༺ Tellon Academy (1) ༻
Three days had passed since they left the Imperial Capital, and there was only one day left until they arrived at the Academy.
Renee and Vera had not exuded any of the weird mood that had been circulating between them.
Renee stopped seducing him and Vera didn’t have to put up with it either.
It was because Miller was sitting across them in the carriage.
“…That being said, wizards are basically a bunch of idiots! I’ve been wanting to say that. Don’t you agree? All they do is talk about Providence, Providence, Providence. They keep repeating it like a broken record, but when asked what providence actually means, none of those morons have any answers. They must have been busy making excuses by saying it was be~yond human comprehension and all. They don’t even know where they are heading. On the other hand, look at sorcery. How comprehensible is that? Offerings, rituals, phenomenons. It’s possible to explain all the principles with these three. Not to mention…”
…It was due to Miller’s endless chatter.
Renee and Vera closed their eyes shut. They felt as if their ears were bleeding.
It was one of those moments of sincere astonishment.
‘I never thought there was a more talkative person than Trevor…’
Vera was distressed. He had to endure hours of suffering and struggling in despair, as if he was dealing with something that shouldn’t exist in the world.
Why not put a stop to it? One may have asked, but Vera had only one answer to it.
He would answer that it was better to suffer through it because he didn’t know when Renee’s seduction would strike him again if he cut off Miller’s chatter and ended the conversation.
Vera didn’t want to go through the ordeal of Renee’s temptation clouding his judgment ever again.
“Gosh, that’s the reality. It’s just frustrating. Doesn’t it make your blood boil to see those wizards aiming for the position of Head Professor? What will happen if we leave the academy to morons like them? We’d all~ be heading to hell together!”
Thud!
As Miller slapped his thigh with his palm, Renee laughed nervously and went along with him.
“I-Is that so…”
He’d been talking nonstop for the past three days.
Renee’s sanity had been shattered by Miller’s irrational anger toward magic.
A part of her wished he would just stop, but unfortunately, Miller didn’t stop chattering.
“Yes! That is why I want to express my sincere thanks to all of you!”
He put a lot of emphasis in his tone. Then Miller grabbed a book from his suit, flicked the cover, and added.
The identity of the book was the grimoire [Whispers of the Dream Demon].
“This! I’d like to thank you for helping me in acquiring this grimoire! Did you ask what the result of obtaining this was? Those wizard bastards will ne~ver be able to match up with me. Of course, in a prolonged battle, there is always a degree of uncertainty, but for now, I’m confident that I can knock~ their spirits right out of them!”
He said that about five more times.
Renee could also predict what was coming next, too.
It would be a long, long explanation of what the grimoire was.
“It’s a grimoire where secrets from the Age of Gods lie dormant! It’s an item that could destroy an entire nation if it were to fall into the hands of evil! Let’s take a moment to think about it, shall we? Imagine if this thing explodes in the country’s capital. The intellectual beings on that land will fall into a dream and be consumed by hallucination at the same time. The world’s time will still pass even when they’re trapped in a dream that they can’t get out of, right? First, there’ll be a societal collapse, followed by a suspension of governmental functions. Even as those problems keep worsening, people who were caught in dreams slowly dry up and die because of malnutrition, and that’s~ how the country collapses!”
The words were spoken with an eerie air, as if he were describing something enormous and terrifying… No, it was indeed terrifying, but it didn’t evoke any emotion in Vera and Renee since they’d heard this story so many times that their ears were scabbed.
The endless stream of monotonous chatter was getting really tiresome now.
It made Renee lose her temper, and she said these words inadvertently.
“Wouldn’t it be better to burn such an item?”
It was an indirect question, expressing a plea for Miller to stop.
However, Miller was having none of it.
“As it should be! We should do that, but! If we put that aside, the academic value set for this grimoire is ve~ry astronomical! That’s why even at the Academy, it was sealed and only a few scholars are researching it!”
It became a new topic to chatter about.
As if to say ‘I caught you now’, Miller added a new variation to his rambling.
Renee’s face turned grim.
Her agony was made worse by the fact that she felt relieved because it was a story she had never heard before.
***
Later that night at the campsite.
As they sat around the campfire and began to eat, Miller also ate in silence, which made Renee and Vera’s faces light up with joy like those who had received salvation.
“It’s so delicious.”
Renee said.
The soup was very delicious. Very, very delicious. She wasn’t sure if it was because the soup was really delicious or Miller’s rambling had come to an end, but it was literally delicious.
However, she should not have gotten overwhelmed with emotion and said that it was ‘delicious’.
“Delicious, huh… Speaking of taste, another thesis of mine comes to mind.”
Miller’s eyes shone like a beast on the hunt. Renee’s face turned white while Vera’s face brimmed with anger.
“You’re too noisy.”
Aisha said grumpily. Aisha, who had gone to a different carriage on the first day because she was sick of Miller’s rambling, protested because she couldn’t stand Miller’s behavior anymore.
However, it was a bad move.
Clack—
Miller stopped moving. His face became as red as his hair, and his eyes widened until they couldn’t get any bigger as he glared at Aisha.
“Do you understand what you’re saying, kiddo? We’re talking about academic stuff. Got it? We’re talking about knowledge. It won’t work. Come here. You don’t seem to understand the importance of knowledge yet because you’re young, so let me ‘explain’ it to you step by step.”
“Hiik…!”
Aisha’s face grew pale. The fur on her body began to stand on end, and her ears curled back. Her tail began to expand and stiffen.
Aisha, scared stiff, threw away the bowl she was holding and ran off into the distance. She was followed by Miller, who had also thrown his bowl away and ran after her, the sound of his accessories clinking accompanying his movements.
“Hey! Stop right there!”
The remaining group threw words of consolation for Aisha’s sacrifice and enjoyed a brief moment of peace with an extremely comfortable expression, as if it couldn’t get any more comfortable than this.
***
The next day, on the road to the academy.
Renee felt tears welling up in her eyes; it was time to say goodbye to Miller. His endless rambling would finally come to an end.
That fact alone brought her overwhelming happiness.
Renee said to Miller, her face showing her growing happiness.
“We’re almost there. Oh no, this makes me sad.”
She was not the least bit sad about it, but she thought she might as well say something pleasant and get it over with since they were parting ways, but Miller replied.
“Gosh, we can still meet by chance while you’re at the Academy, right? Although our conversation won’t be as enjoyable as it is now.”
Renee didn’t want to meet him even if it was by chance, and besides, only Miller found the conversation enjoyable.
The words were already on the tip of her tongue, but Renee held them in with superhuman patience.
At that time, Miller asked.
“So, is the Saint going to see Professor Theresa?”
“Ah, yes. I am… and Vera has some business at the Academy, so I guess he’ll go there as well.”
“Huh? You mean the Academy?”
Miller tilted his head.
Vera gave him a brief glance before shifting his gaze back to the window and continued to speak.
“I’m going to ask the archaeologists at the Academy for some advice.”
It was a brief sentence that went straight to the point. It prompted Miller to ask a question.
“Archaeology? What are you going there for? You could have asked me.”
As if stating the obvious and as if asking why he was wasting his time, Miller added.
“I’m the Head of the Archaeology Department, though?”
In an instant, the silence descended upon them as if the air was frozen.
Vera’s eyes widened, and Renee winced.
Startled, Renee asked.
“Professor, aren’t you in charge of sorcery…”
“I am an adjunct professor. Archaeology is a department that is part of the faculty of Sorcery. Isn’t sorcery itself an ancient technique in the first place? Of course, I’m also in charge of that.”
Vera, who was listening to his carefree remarks, wasn’t able to ignore it and replied with an appalled expression.
“…I’d like it if you stop joking around.”
He wished Miller would just say it was a joke, but Miller shrugged and spoke.
“Why would I joke about this? It’s fine, just ask away. There must be only a few people at the academy who know as much as I do.”
A deep smile appeared on his face.
“I’ll ‘explain’ it well so that you understand.”
What followed was a cruel declaration.
***
Asking Miller for advice was too cruel for Vera, who had suffered from him in the past few days.
If he briefly told Miller about the dagger he obtained at the auction house and asked Miller to explain, he’d probably ramble about it all day.
Despite his loud inner protests, there was nothing he could do.
There was no need for Miller to lie about his responsibilities, and if he was indeed the Department Head, then that meant that no one else could know more about the dagger than Miller.
Vera drew the blade from his waist with a sad and bitter expression and handed it to Miller, who examined it for a moment before speaking.
“Is this dagger for ritualistic use?”
Vera’s question was answered right away.
“Let’s see, did you say it was from the ruins at the western end’s canyon?”
“…Yes.”
“Then it’s a relic from the Age of Gods at the very least. And since it was Gorgan’s territory during the Age of Gods… it must be a dagger used in a ritual to honor Gorgan.”
Vera’s eyes widened.
Aside from Vera’s admiration for Miller’s ability to know the origin of the dagger at a glance, a number of things came to mind as a result of what he said.
Gorgan, Wave of Despair.
The tyrant of the sea, said to be the most savage of the nine ancient species.
When its name was mentioned, Vera’s speculation turned into conviction.
‘…As expected, this item is related to the ancient species.’
It was also a relic of an ancient species that was closely related to Aidrin. Aidrin’s energy didn’t react for no reason, after all.
As he was deep in thought, Miller continued to speak.
“Hmm, judging by its sculpted grooves and craftsmanship style, it wasn’t a simple ritual. In their culture, the amount of grooves is determined by the significance of the rite. Can you see the bumps here? One, two… nine. If there were nine, it would have been an event almost on a national level.”
The rest of his explanation, which he gave as he gently scratched at the rusty and chipped parts, was irrelevant to Vera, but there were some useful bits for sure.
“Wow, it’s really a good item. If we dig deep enough, we might be able to find one or two mysteries hidden in it.”
Mysteries.
Vera’s eyes glistened at the idea that he could uncover some kind of mystery.
Friede’s ability to manipulate the wind. It meant he could gain power on a par with that.
‘I hit the jackpot.’
A small smile appeared around Vera’s mouth.
He had realized the weakness of Sanctuary in the battles that he had fought recently.
The Sanctuary’s drawback was that it couldn’t be utilized in a space with multiple allies. The solution was right in front of him.
“How do we extract it?”
“I don’t know at the moment. I think I’ll have to go through this more in the lab, but you should come by my lab later. I’ll take a good look at it.”
Thud—
Miller muttered, tapping on the dagger’s blade and Vera nodded, forgetting that he might suffer from Miller’s rambling.
Inside the carriage, only Renee realized it, putting a worried expression on her face.
T/N: A sorcerer doesn’t use mana, but a wizard uses mana. It’s a difficult concept to explain because in English and the west in general, we refer everything ‘Magical’ as Magic, but in Korean they are much more specific.
In this series, sorcery will be used more akin to magic that’s grounded in reality, such as curses and other forms of magic that doesn’t involve creation. Wizards will be more fantasy-like, where they will create fireballs, ice, and such. We will try to differentiate them, but just keep this in mind.
