“I gave you the chance to raise an objection. It is your fault for not observing carefully.”
Deculein spoke. His voice was as cold as thin ice.
“······.”
Julie quietly lowered her head.
The senior knights were looking at her. All sorts of emotions rose and sank within her heart.
However, it was still too early to give up.
“······You’re right. It was my fault.”
She murmured softly.
She prepared to release her mana. After placing the ice flower down on a suitable patch of ground, she condensed mana in her grasp.
Thud─!
An old injury tore open, and a dull pain surged up. It seemed that directly releasing mana was still too much for her.
But she paid it no mind.
Julie clenched her teeth and drew up her mana. Mana condensed like a sphere in her palm.
She scattered it as though throwing it.
Whoooooosh······.
Her mana rode the wind and wrapped around the villa. The warmth of the fireplace vanished in an instant, and the entire villa froze cold.
“That should be enough now.”
Julie looked at Deculein and said with dignity. He appeared slightly surprised, but soon shook his head.
“That is the wrong method. Look at the flower.”
At those words, Julie looked at the ice flower she had placed on the ground.
“······Ah.”
A scar had formed on its petal.
The crack was clear at a glance.
“The ice flower is also affected by mana.”
“······Ha.”
Julie let out a hollow laugh with the broken flower in her hand. She slowly closed her eyes and lowered her head.
Above the fireplace, the frozen clock was not moving, but soon it became exactly seven o’clock.
Deculein declared.
“You fail, Julie.”
* * *
Julie remained at the villa for a while. Her body temperature was too low, so there would have been a problem if she left immediately. After finishing her meal, she fell into a deep sleep, and the knights gathered in the living room.
“That wasn’t exactly fair.”
Syrio said.
More than that sort of thing, I was bothered by Julie’s mana just now.
“······.”
Today, I had seen Julie’s mana for the first time.
The mana I observed with 「Vision」 had a defect. It was some unknown restriction.
「 Status Abnormality: Mana Damage 」
Julie’s mana was damaged.
Mana damage, in other words a wound to the dantian, was not all that common. It could not happen from ordinary harm alone.
It must have been a curse, or an injury close to crippling.
Had Julie in the game reached the pinnacle of knighthood while carrying this status abnormality? Or had she become the pinnacle by overcoming it?
I did not know the reason.
“······Julie’s difficulty was way too high. The ice flower and the fireplace? Even I didn’t notice it at first.”
Syrio kept grumbling. Gwen and Raphel were also looking at me. Their gazes carried anger.
The knights seemed deeply dissatisfied with the process that had not been fair.
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
They had ties not only to Deculein, but to Julie as well.
If so, would they know the reason for this ‘mana damage’ too?
“······Julie was injured once, some time ago.”
I repeated it in a subtle tone, as if speaking to myself. It was a ploy to sound them out.
But then, the atmosphere inside changed abruptly.
“Injured? That was because of you. Back when we were on that escort mission together······ Ah, don’t tell me?”
Syrio’s eyes widened as he looked at me. Raphel also stroked his chin and fell into thought.
“The aftereffects from back then are still there?”
At that, Gwen furrowed her brow this time.
“She seemed fine when she used sword aura······ Raphel? How was it for you?”
“It did seem as if she was consciously limiting her use of mana. She used sword aura, but she did not burst out a large amount of mana all at once.”
Though that would have been the only way to counter my Explosive Sword. Raphel added this boastfully and twisted his lips.
Syrio nodded as if he understood.
“True······ If the aftereffects are still there, that is a problem. If she stays at His Majesty’s side, she might get nitpicked for no reason. Especially since the eunuchs are famous for being so fierce.”
Words I knew nothing about poured out. They were settings from before the point where the game began.
“But are you sure? How did you know something like that······ Ah, well. Right. Of course you’d know. Since you love her so much.”
Syrio smiled slyly.
Then Gwen sharply raised her eyes and snapped.
“Enough. Even if that’s true, is that how you show concern for someone? That’s not very cool, you know? And even with some injury like that, she can teach His Majesty perfectly well. It’s just pointless overprotection.”
“Gwen.”
I called her name.
“What?”
“Do you want to fail as well?”
“······.”
Gwen shut her mouth, and I focused on my duties as the examiner.
“Return to your rooms. The second test will resume after the first person eliminated has departed.”
* * *
In terms of time, it was three in the afternoon.
But outside, in the still-dark world, Julie was standing.
She looked up at the sky. The visible winter was taut, as though it might tear apart.
—Commander, good luck!
—You’ve been under a lot of stress lately, so show them everything you’ve got and come back~!
The cheers of her members came to mind. She had resolved to pass no matter what, for their sake as well, but the result was failure.
However, she could not resent anyone. Nor should she.
Julie accepted it humbly.
Just as she was about to return home.
There was a rustling sound, and someone’s presence stirred.
······Deculein.
He was looking at her from not far away.
“Julie.”
“Yes.”
He slowly approached. The snow crunched underfoot.
He stopped at a distance that could be crossed in three steps. For a moment, he stood still in thought, as if choosing his words.
“It is regrettable, what happened today.”
“No.”
Julie shook her head.
“As you said, it was my fault. I understand. That in itself was the test.”
“······.”
Deculein said nothing. He could not understand her words that it had been her fault.
Julie continued sincerely.
“The ice flower and the fireplace. Those two things were truly cunning. When I received the task, I should have checked them without fail.”
Deculein let out a small sigh.
Cunning, my foot. What a foolishly honest one.
“······Before I send you off, there is one thing I want to ask.”
“Is it part of your duties as an examiner?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“Yes. That’s fine.”
As Kim Woojin, not Deculein. No, as Kim Woojin bearing Deculein’s emotions.
He recalled the first time he had met Julie, five months ago.
That day, Julie had spoken of a ‘promise’ in anger, but he had not even been able to ask what that promise was.
“There was a promise I broke before.”
Julie looked at Deculein without a word. Deculein continued impassively.
“Tell me about that promise again.”
Julie’s eyebrow twitched. Deculein gave her a faint smile.
“I simply wish to hear it from your mouth once more.”
She found him suspicious.
At some point, he had become such an incomprehensible person.
“······It has already been half a year. Back then, I received a letter from someone of the family called ‘Luna.’ It was a letter sent by the mother of the mage who took his own life under your command.”
“What was the content of that letter?”
“I already showed it to you, did I not? It was about the······ evil deeds you had committed until then. I demanded an explanation from you, and you remained silent.”
At that time, Julie had shown Deculein the letter, but he had glared at it with a crushing gaze and burned it.
Saying that it contained matters she did not need to know.
“So that is how it was.”
Deculein behaved as though such a thing had never happened.
This time too, it was behavior she could not understand.
“Why are you asking now?”
“······.”
He looked at Julie. A bitter smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.
“Because it was my fault.”
“······Pardon?”
Startled, Julie opened her eyes wide and asked again.
He spoke once more.
“At that time, it was my······ Deculein’s fault.”
“······.”
“However, that research is still ongoing. He designed it, but I am the one constructing it now. I am currently filling in the empty parts myself. Naturally, since it was research we began together, he will become a co-author of this research.”
Deculein said so while looking toward the horizon.
Slowly, the sun was rising. The nature of a magical space was this strange.
“If there are profits, I will distribute them, and I will help his family prosper again. On the day this research is announced, I will also be able to apologize to him.”
His face was soaked in the light of dawn.
Like ice that had received spring sunlight, he was cold, yet warm.
Julie replied in a small voice.
“······Why did you not say that back then?”
At that, Deculein’s eyes settled on Julie. Julie did not avoid that straightforward gaze.
“Who knows. Perhaps because even if I had said that, nothing would have changed.”
“Pardon?”
“Back then, you were only searching for reasons to hate me.”
Just as Deculein loved Julie, the fact that Julie did not love Deculein might perhaps be fate as well.
That was what he thought.
“I understand. Whatever feelings you have toward me, emotions are not something one can manage through effort alone.”
“······No.”
But Julie herself seemed to think differently.
She shook her head firmly.
“I······ once liked you.”
Deculein’s expressionless eyes widened. At that astonishing change, Julie’s face flushed red.
“No, I mean, what that means is······.”
The connection between Julie and Deculein went back quite a long way.
A full sixteen years. From the time Deculein had not yet been the head of Yukline, and Julie had merely been a child who dreamed of becoming a knight.
Even after suffering countless disappointments and many humiliations in that time, the reason she had decided to ‘believe in the person called Deculein’ had, in truth, all been within Julie’s own heart.
“At that time—”
“Let us bury it.”
Deculein shook his head and cut off Julie’s words.
“The me of that era is not me.”
Julie, whose lips had been moving, soon nodded shyly as well. Since she understood Deculein’s will, she erased the words she had been mulling over in her mouth.
Looking at her, he said.
“Julie.”
“Yes?”
“From now on, I will endeavor not to love you.”
Julie’s eyes and mouth became round. At such a pure reaction, Deculein laughed clearly.
That smile broke through his coldness. He, who had always been a solemn noble, suddenly transformed into a boy.
Smiling like that, he continued.
“You seem burdened by it, so I will endeavor to grow more distant from you from here on. If I do, then someday, we may each go our own way.”
“······.”
He let Julie hear the feelings he had harbored until now.
“I will do so for your sake.”
When he finished speaking, he turned around.
“You worked hard today. Go carefully.”
Julie watched his back as he moved away. Before she knew it, the sun, now high in the sky, shone warmly upon the world.
Soon, a small smile like sunlight spread across her lips.
“······You are sincere, aren’t you?”
Today, she realized it once again.
He was striving to change. Until now, she had not known of that effort. Perhaps she had not even tried to know.
“As a knight, I will reflect and examine myself.”
Feeling one corner of her heart grow warm, Julie turned around.
She walked in the opposite direction from him.
I will endeavor not to love you······.
His words lingered in her ears.
They were his words saying he would change for her sake. Self-sacrificing words, saying that for her sake, he would not love her.
Clearly, they were words for her.
“······.”
Suddenly, she stopped. She looked back again. He had grown so distant that she could no longer see him.
Julie nodded, then continued walking her own path.
The snowfield seemed to swallow her legs. The sunlight that had risen in full instead melted the snow clinging to her body into slush.
Julie walked.
At the same time, she acknowledged the heart that was leaning toward him.
* * *
······The selection examination ended without incident.
After three days of tests, Raphel was selected, and the remaining three knights failed.
Thanks to that, I had spent three whole days, but it had not been entirely without gain.
I had seen the movements of the foremost knights with my own eyes, and with 「Comprehension」, I had committed them firmly to memory. It was an experience difficult to obtain even for a fortune.
As soon as I returned to the office in the Magic Tower, I compiled the movements of the knights I had seen into a written summary. Completed as a combined volume of two books in total, it would prove useful for my 「Man of Steel」······.
“Hmm.”
As I was putting this ‘record’ into the drawer of my office desk, a notebook suddenly caught my eye. I took it out.
[ ─ ]
It was the untitled notebook I had brought from Deculein’s room in Hadekain. Its detailed information remained locked, but it was certainly a magical artifact.
The method of using such magical artifacts was usually simple. Infuse it with mana.
“······.”
The moment I placed my hand on the notebook—
Knock, knock—
It was a knock. I put the notebook away and opened the door with psychokinesis.
“—Congratulations!”
It was Allen. Wearing a cone hat on the crown of his head, Allen was holding a cake in both hands.
He spoke with a bright smile.
“Professor, congratulations on being selected as an imperial teaching mage!”
It seemed the Imperial Family’s announcement had been made. I nodded.
“Is there a list?”
“Here it is!”
Allen handed it over as if he had been waiting.
The moment I saw the list, I frowned.
[ List of Imperial Palace Teaching Mages: Deculein von Grahan Yukline, Louina von Schlot McQueen. ]
There were two teaching mages. It was not the worst-case scenario.
Louina was someone I would have to meet someday anyway.
However, the very next page struck me like a blow to the back of the head.
[ List of Imperial Teaching Knights: Syrio von Renya Sigurn, Raphel Kent, Yuli von Deya Freyden, Gwen Wipsy ]
“What?”
The Emperor had selected all four of them as teaching knights.
Perhaps feeling awkward about it himself, he had written the reason on the back.
─We desire to learn Syrio’s swift sword like the wind, Raphel’s explosive heavy sword, Gwen’s rapier that has reached the realm, and Yuli’s unity of elements and sword.
At that moment.
[ Imperial Palace Quest: The Devil’s Mirror ]
◆ Shop Currency + 10
◆ ???
A massive quest worth a full 10 shop currency had occurred.
“······Bba-bba-bbam! Bbara-bbam-bbam! Bbam-bbam!”
Allen burst into a fanfare, utterly oblivious. It was the first time I had seen someone make fanfare sounds with his mouth.
“Leave.”
“Ah, yes!”
I gestured, and Allen, sensing the atmosphere, immediately went outside.
“······.”
I glared at the list and pondered.
However, agonizing over it at my desk would not change anything. All of this was the Emperor’s arbitrary whim.
“Damn it······.”
I sat in my chair and swept back my hair.
Knock, knock—
Another knock sounded. Since I had been just about to leave, I went over myself and opened the door.
It was Sylvia.
Sylvia looked up at me while holding an enormous scroll in her arms.
“Professor. I have a question.”
“A question?”
“Yes. In the last class, you said this assignment would be difficult, and that we could come to you anytime if we had questions.”
“That is true, but are you alone?”
“Yes.”
“Come with your teammates.”
I closed the door.
Knock, knock—
Sylvia knocked again. When I did not open the door, only her voice came through.
─My teammates are not helpful.
“A group assignment is not something done alone.”
─······.
Only then did I hear footsteps moving away.
However, not long after, knock, knock—there was another knock.
“I clearly said······.”
I opened the door, and this time the other four were with her. It seemed they had been together not far away.
Had Sylvia intended to abandon the four of them and ask her question by herself?
“We all came together.”
“······Very well. Come in.”
I led the chicks to the table inside the office. As soon as Epherene sat down, for some reason, she wore an ominous smile.
“We planned out the group assignment like this. So ”
Sylvia set the scroll down. I nodded and unfurled it.
I had told them to come anytime, but I had not thought they would really come······.
‘Heh heh.’
······Epherene grinned sinisterly on the inside.
In truth, this scroll with the formula of the mana disaster recorded on it was not complete.
Without Sylvia knowing, she had deliberately written in an incorrect part. It was a very subtle trap, one she had pondered over for two days and nights.
So even you will have a hard time grasping it with a mere glance.
Why?
Because this was a trap with a ‘catalyst’ written into it.
“Could you tell us where, perhaps, it might be wrong?”
Epherene asked Deculein demurely, pretending to be frightened. Nervous, she licked her lips.
Deculein silently stared at the scroll······