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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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I thought it would be just another ordinary day.
I was having a rather enjoyable time with my sister Diana, but then static-mixed noise came from the walkie-talkie I always carried in my bosom, as if I had a hunch.
“What is it?”
My sister, who was eating ice cream, glanced at my chest.
I briefly entrusted the ice cream to my sister and took out the walkie-talkie from my bosom.
What the, what is this?
I opened my mouth to ask what was going on, but at the unfamiliar male voice, I closed it and slowly brought the walkie-talkie to my ear.
My sister also snuggled up beside me without making a sound, sensing the unusual atmosphere.
The sound of shaking the walkie-talkie and the wind mixed together came from the other side.
Is he saying something?
Is it a recorder or something?
It was an excellent judgment to infer it was a recorder while looking at the mic that was full of holes.
The guy brought it closer to his mouth and started talking about this and that.
Ah, this is Den.
This is Den…… What the?
Why did Sen have this in the first place?
Sen’s name came up, but I waited patiently without getting excited.
If I made a sound here carelessly, the purpose of the walkie-talkie might be revealed.
Hey, what are you doing? If you’re done, let’s go quickly.
The voice of another man came from a distance.
Boss, do you know what this is? Sen had it, and she didn’t let go of it until the end. It looks expensive.
Huh? What is it?
It seemed that Den had handed over the walkie-talkie, and the sound of shuffling was heard.
Unfortunately, the man who received it wasn’t ignorant enough to not know what it was.
What? This is a walkie-talkie used by places like the Royal Inspectorate. Why does Sen have this?
Huh? A walkie-talkie?
Wait, the light is on!
After that, along with the sound of cracking and shattering, nothing more could be heard from the walkie-talkie.
I had a feeling as if murky air was pressing down on my shoulders.
Not only had something happened, but judging from the man’s single-syllable name, there was a very high possibility that it was the Chokugen Faction.
“I think I should go to Batian.”
As if she knew I would say that, my sister slowly turned her eyes towards the academy.
“Let’s tell the dean first before going. It seems like something has happened over there, so let’s ask him to check.”
“…… Okay.”
Although I wanted to leave right away, my sister’s suggestion was reasonable, so I suppressed my emotions and headed to the academy with quick steps.
“Eat this and cool down a bit.”
My sister casually handed me the melting ice cream.
My insides felt like they were burning up, so I crunched and swallowed the ice cream, but it wasn’t very effective.
‘Why is the Chokugen Faction in Batian?’
It wasn’t productive at all to worry about this. They were an extremely passive group that moved based on requests.
Perhaps this time too, they were in Batian after receiving some request, and my personal feeling was that it had a close connection to the saint election.
When we burst into the dean’s office, his expression was almost one of resignation.
He looked like he was whining about the McLean family again, and I felt he wasn’t acting his age, but now wasn’t the time to say such trivial things.
“What? It seems like some incident occurred in Batian?”
When we briefly explained what had just happened, the dean immediately frowned and asked us some questions.
The pitiful atmosphere had already disappeared, and he touched the crystal ball with the eyes of the true top authority of Aios Academy.
Since Batian was quite a distance away, it felt like a considerable amount of mana was being consumed, making my skin tingle, but the dean showed no change in expression.
A typical desk mage lacking in actual combat.
But conversely, it meant his abilities on the desk were outstanding enough for him to reach this position without any actual combat.
The dean instructed the professors in Batian to gather the students right away, confirm their numbers, and protect them.
“It’ll be fine.”
My sister gently held my hand and reassured me to calm down.
Even though I tried to hide it, I felt like my anxious heart had been exposed to my sister.
“Thank you.”
I also held my sister’s hand and took a deep breath.
There was nothing I could do even if I got excited here now.
‘Sen went to Batian because of me.’
Tana, Eve, and Hayun had suggested going to Taemin Plateau together, but at my request, since I couldn’t go on the field trip, Sen had headed to Batian to keep an eye on Rin.
I couldn’t erase from my mind that it was my fault she had encountered the Chokugen Faction.
In the meantime, the dean, who had finished contacting everyone, sighed and wiped a drop of sweat running down his wrinkled forehead with a handkerchief.
There was no change in his expression, but communicating with multiple people at this distance definitely consumed a lot of mana.
“I’ve told them for now. It was time to check on the students anyway since it’s evening. Starting tomorrow, the professors will officially chaperone the sightseeing, so there’s nothing to worry about, but…….”
“The problem is Sen, who has already been hit. Perhaps, there’s a possibility that other students besides Sen have also had accidents.”
It was a situation where it was unknown what had happened to other students who had gotten involved with the Chokugen Faction.
Even though I hadn’t said I would go right away, the dean explained in advance why I couldn’t go to Batian.
“The distance is too far. The carriages we used this time had magic applied to them, and we had requested cooperation from Batian, so we were able to arrive in half a day. If we take a regular carriage, it will take at least two days.”
“……”
It would be nice if I could use warp like when I went to the Dragon’s Boundary, but in fact, mages who could handle warp were extremely limited.
It was the land beyond the boundary of effort, something that could only be called talent.
And unfortunately, the dean wasn’t born with such a unique talent.
‘Should I look for that weirdo?’
The guy who was top-notch in warp, if not in other magic.
Since he was active as a mercenary mage, there was no way I could find him.
It would be faster to take the carriage heading to Batian now.
As I sighed and was about to say I would depart right away, a confident-sounding fake cough was heard from the side.
“I have a way.”
“Huh?”
I didn’t understand what she was saying, so I asked back, but my sister laughed and held my hand again.
“Let’s go, I’ll take you to Batian.”
From my sister’s back, huge wings revealed themselves as if to embrace me.
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“……”
During the field trip, many students had to stay in cheap hotel rooms since they had to accommodate a large number of people.
The sound of the raging wind from outside the window roughly hit the ears, and the creaking bed was not only noisy but also uncomfortable enough to disrupt sleep.
Nevertheless, the reason there were no major complaints about the inconvenience was probably because the students were a bit excited in the special situation of the field trip.
If you came on a trip, even the bad parts look good.
Inconvenience becomes a memory over time.
You may not know at the time, but later on, you can laugh and open up to your friends, saying, “That’s how it was.”
But that’s only possible if you have friends to share it with.
As bedtime approached, Rin, who had tied her long hair in a simple ponytail and was wearing pajamas, looked at the bed on the opposite side of her with concerned eyes.
Sen’s bed.
Rin, who had readily accepted her request to share a room, was anxiously waiting for Sen to return, wondering when she would be back.
She had already told the chaperoning professors.
She heard that not only Sen but also other people hadn’t returned yet, and she was very worried.
“It’s the second day now, where did she go?”
Sighing, Rin smoothed out Sen’s bedding, which she had already tidied once, with her hands, filled with sincere concern.
Knock knock.
Then, an urgent knocking sound came from outside the room.
Thinking that maybe they had found Sen, Rin immediately opened the door, but unfortunately, it was her blonde childhood friend, Ares Helias.
“Ares?”
She wondered what had suddenly happened, but Ares’ expression didn’t look good.
He glanced around and spoke apologetically.
“If it’s okay, can I come in and talk?”
In the past, she would have refused, saying it was a bit uncomfortable, but Rin, who had already rejected Ares’ confession once and decisively cut off her feelings, said okay and made way for him.
She also thought Ares would have given up on her, but in fact, Ares’ expression was very bad.
With sweat flowing as if he had been caught in the rain, along with his pale complexion, his lips were slightly trembling, showing that something had happened to Ares.
Judging from the fact that he was still wearing outdoor clothes, it seemed that Ares Helias was also on the list of students who hadn’t returned yet.
“Are you okay? You don’t look well.”
Rin handed him her towel and spoke to Ares, but he roughly took it, wiped himself, took a deep breath, and desperately suppressed his fear.
“Rin, first look at this.”
Ares took off the brown leather finger gloves he was wearing, and on the back of both his hands, the mark of Helios was faintly emitting a yellow light like a firefly.
Rin also knew that Ares had a mark like her.
“Two of them?”
It was the first time she heard that he had them on the back of both hands.
As she made a surprised expression, Ares began to explain.
“After the mage of the Tudogs cut off my hand, it became like this. Something felt strange, so I came to Batian on this field trip. I heard that the nun of Helios was also one of the candidates for the saint.”
“Ah.”
Rin, who had been chosen by the god of death, couldn’t even dare to ask anyone, but unlike her, Ares was of Helios, who had numerous believers.
Rather, she thought the cathedral would take him in.
“But I heard shocking news at the cathedral. This is something I overheard in secret, so don’t go around telling anyone.”
Even though they were alone in the room, Ares kept being vigilant and afraid of something.
“The nun of Helios murdered the nun of Demeter and is on the run.”
“…… What?”
It was completely unexpected and could be considered truly shocking information.
Rin was stunned as if she had been hit on the head with a blunt object, but her mouth was still asking Ares.
“Is it confirmed information?”
“Yeah, I heard it clearly. From the atmosphere, it seems they won’t keep it hidden and will announce it as early as tomorrow.”
“……”
If it was this serious, Rin thought they should end the field trip early and return to Aios Academy.
But Ares added, saying the story wasn’t over yet.
“The important thing is from now on. Unfortunately, I was caught by a woman there. She had a black parasol and a dress. A woman so frightening that you forget to breathe just by looking at her.”
“……”
“The woman looked at me, gestured for me to keep my mouth shut, and let me go with a smile, but I came because I felt like I couldn’t just let it go like this.”
Ares finished the story and shifted his gaze to the floor.
Rin briefly organized the contents in her mind but couldn’t help but question.
“But why me?”
Why did Ares come to her and tell her all this?
It was a natural question, but Ares made a slightly flustered expression.
He thought that if he told the professors, the problem would grow bigger rather than be solved.
No, he didn’t think the professors could stop that woman.
But.
“I wondered if you had a way to contact Daniel.”
Ares thought.
If it was Daniel McLean.
His old childhood friend who had single-handedly defeated the powerful Tudogs and quietly returned in silence.
Even though their relationship was already broken, he wondered if he could still protect him.
It felt like he had encountered a ghost.
To the extent that he was engulfed in anxiety, feeling like that ghost would attack his neck at any moment, the black madame had driven Ares this far with just a smile.
“Unfortunately……”
Rin was about to say that she also wanted a way to contact Daniel if there was one.
Knock
knock
There was a knocking sound.
Unlike Ares’ knock, the knock that heavily but gently echoed through the room gave the two students a strange sense of unease.
Originally, a knock is a very basic and simple expression of intention and etiquette, asking if it’s okay to open the door and excuse oneself for a moment.
But the current knock was the opposite, as if warning Rin and Ares inside not to open the door.
“The door is locked.”
As Rin managed to utter a word, Ares nodded slightly with some relief.
Creak.
The doorknob turned too lightly and cheerfully, and the door welcomed the guest as if it had surrendered to a gentle breeze.
And there, the madame was standing, tapping the floor with her folded black parasol as she entered.
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