Let this grieving soul r.., p.16
Let This Grieving Soul Retire! Volume 8, page 16
Ah, I get it.
Let’s say I was guilty of this crime. Were they going to forgive the Abyssal Inferno? That old lady scorched a good chunk of the castle, and while I was playing with a hot spring dragon while on vacation, hadn’t she been trading fire with Akasha in the streets? Shouldn’t she have been prosecuted first?
What was weird was that these people seemingly had no uncertainty regarding my guilt. I don’t know what investigations they had done, but calling this a trial was ridiculous.
Seyge’s voice was cold, and her face was almost devoid of expression. She was never very hospitable to me.
“And despite all this, Lucia’s brother, I hear you want something in exchange. There’s no telling how great the chaos may have been if the Abyssal Inferno hadn’t arrived and stopped that fearsome magical creature before it could get through all the barriers. If that had happened, it’s possible it may have escaped the grounds of the academy and brought ruin to the imperial capital.”
I looked around at the dozens of Magi surrounding us. If they had been granted a seat here, they must have been among the best in the capital, though I didn’t know any of their names. It’s anyone’s guess how so much wisdom could be gathered in one room, yet nobody came to my defense. And I didn’t want anything in exchange; Sitri did.
At least I had Franz. Franz would help me. Unlike Sitri, he never became Bad Franz. I decided to ask for his help over the Sounding Stone once I got the chance.
“Why don’t you say anything?” Lucia’s instructor asked suspiciously. “If you have any objections, then we’ll at least hear you out. If not, in accordance with imperial law, you’ll be prosecuted under the rules of the academy.”
So the academy has extraterritoriality?
I recalled hearing something about this from Lucia. In case any Magi ever lost control and caused an incident, the academy was allowed self-governance.
I had ended up here out of sheer coincidence, and look at the trouble it had gotten me in. She said I could object, but when had anyone listened to my claims of innocence? I wanted this to get resolved smoothly, but would that happen?
One of the surrounding Magi raised a hand, then spoke.
“However, Professor Seyge, he is Lucia’s brother. Would it not pose a problem to prosecute him without Lucia’s permission?”
He looked quite serious about this.
The other Magi began to speak as well.
“The Avatar of Creation’s talents are comparable to those of the Abyssal Inferno. And while Rosemary is feared for making oceans of fire, Lucia conducts herself quite properly. She’s even developed a number of new spells.”
“It would be a problem if prosecuting the Thousand Tricks had some deep effect on Lucia. We might face backlash from all the students who adore her.”
Hearing this from her fellow professors, Seyge furrowed her brow. It appeared my younger sister was very popular.
Lucia, your brother’s so happy to see what a wonderful person you’ve become. Keep at it! Really, keep at it, I thought while pinching Sitri’s knees as she continued to hug me and catch fake Zs.
All the while, the debate intensified before my eyes.
“For one thing, the Thousand Tricks was previously selected to guard the emperor. Even if we’re permitted to run our own courts, we shouldn’t be too hasty to do so. Prosecuting this man is too risky.”
“There’s no questioning this man’s guilt. We repay both kindness and antagonism in kind. That’s the way of the Magus.”
“It was Lucia who brought the item in. It would defy all logic to only punish the Thousand Tricks and not her as well.”
“If that’s the case, then Anna’s careless handling of the staff is also worth noting.”
“And one could hardly blame us for considering the poor management of Professor Seyge’s tower?”
“Perhaps this was done out of spite for Lucia missing the advanced compound spirit staff qualification exam for which she had received a recommendation?”
The advanced compound spirit staff qualification examination. If I recalled correctly, that was the thing Lucia had needed to skip because of the Supreme Warrior Festival. The thing with the tree wasn’t my fault, but I felt very bad about the exam!
With more and more pointed words directed her way, Professor Seyge glared at her colleagues. “Don’t be stupid! I’m merely using the privileges afforded to me. Do I need to remind you that many of the fabled barriers of our abode were destroyed?!”
“You may call them ‘fabled,’ but they’ve been left alone for the past ten years despite your constant reminders that they should one day be redone. Shouldn’t you instead be glad that they were destroyed?”
“You’re speaking entirely with the benefit of hindsight! What sort of dunce would express gratitude to someone who destroyed their barriers without permission?!”
The “Lucia’s brother” buff was too powerful. If nothing else, I agreed with Professor Seyge more than anyone else. If there was one thing I thought she was wrong about, it was that she seemed to think I had done anything wrong at all. She glared at me, even though I wasn’t the one raising objections.
The Magus beside her, a lady who looked about three times her age, lectured Seyge in a shrill voice. “Yes, but please think about this in a rational light, Professor Seyge. This man is Lucia’s brother!”
Hmph. That’s right. I’m Lucia Rogier’s brother. Sure, it’s tempting to say, “So what?” And, yeah, we’re not even related by blood...
From what I could tell, there were two factions: those who said the Thousand Tricks should be forgiven because he’s Lucia’s brother, and those who didn’t care about that and wanted to punish him. I was waiting for the faction that would insist the Thousand Tricks was innocent.
Unsure when would be a good time to speak up, I sat there and smiled. Seyge gave me a frigid look, one a lot like those I’d get from Lucia.
“Lucia’s brother, the Thousand Tricks, why are you so quiet? Why don’t you speak? Despite what the needless chatter might suggest, Lucia is under my tutelage, so I have the final say in what happens to her. Unlike my colleagues, I won’t bend to earn your favor. Even if you’re the older brother of my beloved pupil, I’ll offer you no special treatment. Your sister told me all about your methods. Under that barrier, you can’t move, nor can you use magic or those Relics you love so much.”
I hadn’t tried to move, so I hadn’t even noticed I couldn’t. The next moment, my eyes flew open as something occurred to me.
“Awfully late to be making that face,” Professor Seyge said with a snort. “Crime warrants punishment, and destroying the barriers of the Zebrudia Academy of Magic is one without precedent. The details of your punishment will be decided after a discussion between the heads of the academy’s various departments, but I’m sure it’ll reflect the scale of this destruction. Brace yourself for the consequences.”
I can’t use Relics or magic. Does this mean Sitri is one of my Relics?
Perhaps bothered by the expression I was making, Seyge’s cheek twitched as she banged the ground with her staff.
“Hey! What are you thinking?! Listen to me! Anna said you wanted the academy’s hidden treasure, but that’s nothing more than a rumor! Do you think a Magus would let word of something like that slip out?! Because everyone bought into that nonsense, we’re being forced to reveal the extent of the damage. Until a formal verdict can be reached, you’re to be confined there! You should reflect on what you’ve done. If rumors start spreading, it’ll affect Lucia as well!”
I wondered if Lucia got her mannerisms from her instructor. Or maybe the reverse?
“Excuse me,” I said, speaking for the first time. I realized that I needed to get home. “I’ll be very inconvenienced if you don’t let me go.”
Back home, I’ve got some cake that’s about to go bad.
“Be as inconvenienced as you like. We’ve got it worse.”
I knew she was having a bad day and all, but that was still cold. I never would have come here if I had known this would happen. I had a bad habit of giving in to pressure, even though I was never any help in resolving problems.
“Goodness, to think we already had our hands full with that prophecy from the Divinarium. Stirring something up at a time like this is one hell of a form of harassment.”
“Oh, you too? What a coincidence.”
“Quiet. I might be Lucia’s mentor, but I’m nothing of the sort to you! You probably already know this, but Noble Spirits aren’t just adept with mana; we also handle curses well. It’s because our wills are stronger. The majority of curses grand enough to qualify as catastrophes were caused by Noble Spirits. Even still, I’m not fond of the bizarre questions I’ve been getting bombarded with.”
Seyge ran a hand through her bangs and gave a slightly overblown sigh. I guess even a Magus handpicked by the emperor and bearer of a title like “Undying” still had no shortage of worries. I empathized with her.
With a shrug, the professor headed off towards the door. I tried to stop her, but found I couldn’t stand up. It felt less like my body couldn’t move and more like it was ignoring the commands from my brain. Though I had enough freedom to move my mouth and pinch Sitri’s knee. These new barriers were really something.
Oh no. This isn’t good. Hey, Sitri, how long are you going to stay like that?
Unable to rely on Sitri, I was close to giving up when the door was flung open. Contrary to my expectations, it wasn’t Lucia.
“What’s this?” Seyge said, her brow furrowed.
“We’ve finished evaluating the damage. There’s something you should hear.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a newly arrived Magus walk up to the professor and whisper into her ear. Seyge looked at me like I had wronged her family, but she muttered under her breath.
“Hmmm. Indeed. I see...”
“Sure, but that’s speaking with hindsight...”
It sounded like something unexpected had happened. She started looking at me differently than before. I saw her eyes widen, then her face contorted.
“It was originally the Sword Saint’s? What was that brat thinking?”
“Yes, that’s true. I don’t like the idea of missing out on it...”
“Hold on, there’s clearly something wrong there. How did it come to that?”
Then she fell silent.
What could have caused her to sound so intense? After a bit of waiting in ignorance, the Magus left, and Seyge solemnly approached us. She looked down at us for a moment before giving an exaggerated tsk. She stuck her staff into the magic circle, causing it to fade and disappear.
I blinked in confusion. Sitri was still holding on to me.
“Damn it. You’re free to go, Lucia’s brother. The situation’s changed.”
“Free? What the heck happened?”
Seyge directed a spiteful glare at the other professors before very reluctantly saying to me, “I don’t at all abide by this decision. However, it’s been found that there is a possibility that the ashes of that fiend might make for a very valuable catalyst. Again, I do not abide by this decision, but most of the professors do, and it’s the headmaster’s call. If we were to punish you, it would weaken our claim to those ashes. The scales would be off-balance. By your human standards.”
“Would you share some with me?” Sitri said, finally returning to normal.
Seyge briefly looked at her like she was insane. I couldn’t really blame the professor. What happened to the girl who used to be even frailer than I was?
“Lucia’s waiting below,” Seyge said in a frigid voice, ignoring Sitri’s request. “You shouldn’t give your sister one more thing to worry about.”
***
What occurred had been nothing short of a nightmare for that man. At first, he had thought it was an earthquake. With the constant screaming and violent shaking, he learned there was an emergency. When he realized that the massive black tree was aiming for his laboratory, he thought it was all over.
Indeed, while stealing mana from various Magi, the tree was no doubt targeting his workplace. This was a laboratory that had existed for nearly one hundred years. This man’s research was considered quite dull, even compared to that of his counterparts. But it was obvious to him why that fiend went after his lab—it was the magic potion he secretly possessed.
It was a legendary thing, something anyone somewhat educated would have heard of. The sheer danger of it led to its inventors being erased, and research and possession of the potion being forbidden.
It was simple fortune that had brought such an item into the hands of this Magus, a man who was slightly talented, but still within the bounds of mediocrity. All he had done was unearth the potion when digging a hole meant to be a garbage dump. He could still clearly recall the shock he felt when he first tested the potion’s capabilities, confirming its identity.
If word of this potion’s existence were to get out, it would send shock waves throughout the imperial capital. If he handed it over to the empire, his name would instantly become known to many. It would become known, and nothing more. He would just be the guy who happened to stumble across it.
What drove him could only be described as dark impulses. For this man fed up with his own lack of talent, this coincidentally found magic potion would be his rosy future. He could get whatever he desired if he used this potion correctly. Though it had been erased hundreds of years ago and hadn’t been re-created since, he might learn how to mass-produce the potion if he looked into it. To give up such possibilities and bend to authority would be to fail in the pursuit of knowledge.
But then everything changed. No matter what happened, the thought of the potion had been enough to wash away his feelings of discontent. Ultimately, he hadn’t used it, as it wasn’t often you had a chance to use a potion of which you only had one vial. So he couldn’t possibly have been found out. He hadn’t told anyone about the potion, not his colleagues, friends, or family.
Still, it was clear he had screwed up.
By the sound of it, that fiendish tree had ended up here because of Lucia’s brother. The man had heard rumors of him. The Thousand Tricks, a Level 8 hunter and brother of the prodigy Lucia Rogier. They said he knew things he shouldn’t possibly know, and had the skills to guide the future.
The immense black tree had suddenly appeared in the Zebrudia Academy of Magic, a place long protected by barriers and in one of the safest regions of the imperial capital. It had been unhindered by coordinated attacks from the academy’s Magi and crushed the magically protected castle as though it had been constructed from building blocks. There was nothing that man could have done to it.
Good luck was what had kept the potion safe. Thanks to luck, coincidentally, nobody but the man had been present in the laboratory when the fiend had attacked. The fiend’s attention had been momentarily diverted. The Abyssal Inferno had appeared. The falling rubble hadn’t impaled the man. The tree had been defeated before it could return to its objective. The man had been able to flee before the arrival of anyone curious as to why the tree had been so focused on his laboratory. It was all thanks to luck.
Looking out over the broad campus, he let out a sigh of relief as he watched the Magi flock to the mounds of ashes. A single wrong step would have killed him. It was only because of a series of coincidences that he was still standing.
However, the die was already cast. If the Thousand Tricks learned of the man’s survival, the hunter would once again resort to forceful measures. Even if he didn’t, the tree’s behavior must have tipped him off that something was in the man’s laboratory. Surely the man himself would also be thoroughly investigated. He wasn’t so foolish as to think otherwise.
The man removed the bottle from his pocket and stared at it gravely. His heart was nervously pounding like a drum. He thought this day might come. You had to fight to live as you see fit in this world. A Level 8 hunter was a more than satisfactory opponent.
He looked at Professor Seyge’s tower, where the Thousand Tricks had gone. With the mentality of someone headed to their final battle, the man started walking.
***
Departing the room at the top of the tower, we headed down the spiral staircase. Our sudden abduction and censure had left me exhausted. This was too much for one day. I wanted peace.
Walking next to me, Sitri, now recovered, made a face almost like she was a victim here. “My, what a terrible ordeal that was, wouldn’t you say, Krai?”
All you did was catch fake Zs.
It was a sort of uselessness I rarely saw in her. But at this point, it would take a bit more to lower my opinion of her. I looked at her reproachfully, but all she did was make a quizzical face. I couldn’t match her stalwart mentality.
And why did we head towards Seyge’s tower in the first place? We didn’t have any business there or anything. Right. We went because Sitri said so. And Lucia didn’t come with us because Sitri used Killiam to hold her off. Was this whole misadventure Sitri’s fault?
“She sent us home empty-handed,” Sitri complained. “What a cheapskate. You’d think a long lifespan would help a Noble Spirit let go of their greed. We should’ve taken some in secret. Because of Lucia’s stories, I was blinded by my presumption that the professor would share with us. You too, Krai, you should’ve said something.”
I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.
In the end, I never learned why those professors were so certain I was guilty.
“Before judging me, they should’ve looked into their own first,” I said.
I was certain that the disaster had been caused by some Magus running dangerous experiments.
“Exactly!” Sitri added gleefully.
Well, all’s well that ends well. Let’s go home and have some cake.
Just as this thought crossed my mind, the door next to us flew open, and a figure cloaked in a brown robe darted in front of me.
“I was wrong. I realize that now. I didn’t think you’d send such a fiend! H-Here, take this and forgive me!”
