“Everyone, are you all gathered?”
After completing the interview, Julie and the knights gathered again in the Imperial chamber. This was a secret room created by Sophien to avoid the eyes of the eunuchs and her servants. Ahan distributed the Emperor’s orders there.
“It is a certificate to receive cooperation from the intelligence service. With this, the information below level 3 can be accessed, and you can receive help from sources widely spread across the continent.”
Julie nodded and put it in her pocket.
“Everyone’s assignments will be different, so please don’t share them. In addition, I will give you each a military uniform and ID card.”
Royal guard. This was the position that all knights wanted, but Julie wasn’t in a good mood.
“Of course, you will not be mobilized for normal missions. However, as long as you have entered the Imperial Family and accepted the assignment, you need the qualifications, dignity, and loyalty commensurate with that, so you have obtained consent to join the royal guard.”
Of course, this didn’t mean that she didn’t want to serve Her Majesty the Emperor. Just knowing who was standing at the top of the royal guard…
“Your grade is Vesiletta. It is a rune word meaning an agent acting independently, and your privilege is to act alone. Even if you join other guards in a large-scale operation, you can move without being swayed by the lower ranks.”
Julie looked at her ID.
[Julie: Vesiletta] [Security member ID]
Golden engraving and antique patterns imbued with magical energy that matched its beauty.
“This is a magical artifact that Her Majesty has crafted, so don’t lose it. Reissuance means removal from the royal guard.”
“…Oh. No wonder. There is mana in the ID.”
All thirty knights, including Julie, admired it. In a way, it was like receiving a gift from the Emperor herself.
“By the way, it’s a privilege, so I’m curious. Are there special privileges for each of these ranks?”
One named Jelen asked. As the strongest knight in the South, he was bigger than Zeit in terms of physique.
“Yes. Each rank and each individual has different privileges.”
“Whoa, so I’m curious about one more thing. What are the privileges afforded to Professor Deculein?”
Ahan answered his question.
“It’s the right to escape from a life-and-death situation.”
…Everyone was astonished.
* * *
─Everyone, please sit down! Sit down!
Epherene, moving up on the podium, asked the students to sit. She calmed them down by handing out pamphlets with Psychokinesis.
“Ugh…”
Lia still wore a serious look, and Maho glanced at me with a smile.
“…”
I looked around the hall. There would be an Archmage or someone close to it among the hundreds of people gathered at the venue, but I couldn’t distinguish them.
“Then…”
Lia began to gnaw at her fingernails. I watched silently.
“Oh, then what should I do…?”
The way she looked around fiercely while thinking, I could see that she had engaged in the habit regularly. Her thumbnail broke against her front teeth. Now, I grabbed her little hand before she could bite her index finger.
“…?”
Lia looked at me with round eyes.
“Your habit is dirty.”
“…Oh, okay.”
She quickly put her hand down.
“Stay still. It’s not something that can be solved with someone like you worrying.”
At least there was no death variable here. Of course, there was a possibility that he had hidden his murderous aura like Josephine, but I doubted it. If he had planned to kill me in the first place, there was no reason to keep me alive this long.
“…Still-“
“I am in charge here. I take responsibility in solving the problem.”
I went up to the stage of the briefing hall again and took the microphone from Epherene’s hand.
“From now on, we will resume the briefing session for the entrance examination guidelines.”
The 3333 students were momentarily stunned.
“Wow, he really will…”
Behind the curtains on the podium. Epherene was perplexed.
—The theory test will be divided into common questions and series questions, as will the practical tests.
He was explaining the entrance exam syllabus. Even in this barrier, very calmly. It was absurd, but that was definitely like Deculein.
—If you have any questions about the selection of a series, please ask.
As expected, no one asked a question… no. There was one.
—Me~.
Princess Maho of Yuren. She smiled and waved.
—Ask.
—Yes, yes, yes~.
Right at that moment.
“…!”
Epherene’s body hardened in place. Her breath stopped as if a spike had been driven through her throat.
—Will we be able to attend your class as soon as we enter the tower?
—No.
—Why? I want to take the class from the Head Professor~!
The two continued to talk, but Epherene’s interest was only behind her. Sweat flowed like rain off her brow, and she swallowed hard.
Gulp-
Someone was approaching her without a sound.
“Nice to meet you.”
His voice was cold. It was self-evident who it was: the wizard who cast this complete separation barrier spell.
“…Who.”
“I’m Murkan.”
Murkan. As soon as she heard the name, Epherene’s legs suddenly turned to rubber. Murkan caught her when she was about to fall.
“The blood of Rohakan stains your professor.”
“…”
Rohakan’s death. Epherene knew it, too, and she was heartbroken. She wasn’t that close to him, but it was bitter enough, even more so because she knew the reason he had to die.
“Are you scared?”
“…If I weren’t scared…”
She wouldn’t be human. It was Murkan who was eliminated from the position of Archmage because of his personality. Epherene struggled to speak.
“Did you… come to avenge…”
Him? She couldn’t finish.
“I might have.”
“…Yes?”
“But looking at you and seeing him, I don’t think it’s necessary.”
“What…”
“He was born with the fate of death.”
Epherene’s eyes widened. Murkan continued speaking while watching Deculein on the podium.
“That bastard is more pitiful than my nephew.”
“…Why?”
“His ending will be a tragedy.”
Murkan turned his gaze to Epherene. There was no white in his eyes. The pupils, which were all black as if a vial of ink had burst, terrified her.
“Would you like to experience his fate?”
“No.”
Epherene quickly declined. Murkan nodded.
“Right, your fate is not so smooth either.”
“What? Oh… yes. Indeed.”
“You are caught up in time. That’s what your fate is like.”
“…Eh?”
“Now the sun and the moon will repeat.”
“Uh… repeat?”
It was vague, near prophetic. Murkan closed his eyes for a moment and then whispered:
“The bomb will explode.”
“Bomb?!”
“‘Nescĭus, a bomb made from demons.”
Nescĭus. Demon. Bomb. Confronted by a series of unfamiliar words, Epherene frowned.
“You will find out what it means. When you realize it, it will make no difference.”
“I mean. What do you mean? If it is a bomb, where and when will it explode…?”
That was it. Murkan disappeared before Epherene’s eyes, and the barrier was dismantled.
-Huh? The barrier is gone!
A voice resounded in the briefing hall, and in the next moment, sighs of relief erupted simultaneously throughout the crowd.
“…”
Epherene, blinking a few times, immediately came back to her senses at the sight of Deculein coming down from the podium.
“Oh, Professor!”
Deculein also wore a curious expression given the sudden dismantling of the barrier. Epherene quickly ran after him.
“What’s going on?”
“Professor! I met Murkan!”
“…Murkan.”
“Yes! Here, no, I don’t know where, but there’s a bomb! What, a new- something? Anyway, a bomb with the power of a demon!”
“…”
Demon? Deculein’s expression froze.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes!”
Epherene, shouting, followed Deculein with a similarly stern look.
* * *
…That day. Since the day Epherene met Murkan, almost two months had passed. A lot had happened in the meantime.
Of course, the University started, the suppression of the Demon Blood intensified, the erosion of the Voice became even worse, and Epherene visited the Voice’s world with Deculein. She cleared that damn mental strength test crypt in the meanwhile.
“But… but I mean, Professor.”
And, today, roughly around dusk, she was inside the car going back from the tower to the Yukline mansion.
“You know.”
Epherene wiggled her fingers and glanced at Deculein in the seat next to her. Today, his hands were empty. He wasn’t reading a book, newspaper, or anything.
“Um.”
“…Just say it. Hurry.”
Deculein looked back at her. Epherene stuttered.
“Er… what could that bomb have been?”
About two months ago, on the day of the admission briefing session. Epherene delivered Murkan’s words as they were, and Deculein mobilized all the University personnel and the royal guard to conduct an extensive search.
“Well. I don’t know.”
Because of that, the entrance exam was delayed by a week, but…
“…I’m sorry.”
It became Deculein’s only blemish. There were no bombs anywhere in the University, and Adrienne laughed about the incident whenever she saw Deculein. It even made the headlines. The titles were grandiose, ‘Deculein finally failed.’
“It’s not your fault. It was because you misunderstood what Murkan said.”
“…Yes. Murkan clearly said there was a bomb. A bomb that borrows the power of the demon. It was something with a ne-“
“There is no such demon.”
“Oh… okay.”
Deculein nodded. After that, it was silent. He peered out the window at the sky.
“Oh, right. He also said that ‘Now the sun and the moon will repeat.'”
Then, the car suddenly stopped. It was such a smooth stop that she didn’t even know he had stepped on the brake. Epherene unintentionally shifted her gaze to the landscape outside.
“…”
She had her mouth tightly closed, and her chest felt heavy. They had stopped in front of a cemetery.
“Epherene.”
“…Yes.”
Today was April 9th, the anniversary of the woman that Deculein loved.
“Go ahead first.”
“Yes. Take your time.”
He climbed out of the car first and wandered over to the cemetery entrance. Epherene leaned against the window sill to watch him.
“Then, let’s go.”
Ren said from the driver’s seat.
“…Yes.”
Vroom-
The car made its way back to the road as Deculein entered the cemetery. Gently passing the landscape, Epherene now looked up at the sky. She looked at the sunset dying the world in pink.
“…Huh?”
And then, all of a sudden, she saw it. A visible air current filled the sky.
“What is this…”
A large mana pillar rose into the sky, spreading thick over the world. As if it would touch the sun.
“Is it a festival?”
While watching the strange form blankly-
Whoooosh–!
An explosion rocked the world.
“What the?”
Mana and heat rose in a dome-like gale, and an enormous beam of light filled her eyes.
…A blinding flash of light. In that bizarre wave that burned the world, Epherene belatedly remembered Murkan’s strange warning from two months ago.
* * *
“…Ouch!”
Epherene opened her eyes. She raised her torso.
Pant, pant- Pant, pant-
She took a breath and looked around.
“Was… was it a dream?”
She was on the 77th floor of the Tower, in Deculein’s office. She was sitting in the assistant’s chair.
“Dream. Oh, it was a damn dream.”
She stroked her chest.
“Phew…”
‘No, but why am I dreaming of some kind of bomb exploding? Am I that curious?’
“Did you have a dream?”
That’s when she heard Deculein’s voice and felt his gaze sharp against her skin. Epherene scratched the back of her neck and answered.
“It’s nothing. And Professor, you don’t have any plans for tonight. Go first. I have work to do tonight.”
“…”
Then, Deculein looked at her without saying a word. It was a strange look. Epherene asked back.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“The Roteo Hall Admission Test Guideline.”
“…Yes?”
“That’s tonight’s schedule.”
“…What?”
“…Are you still sleepy?”
Deculein’s eyes narrowed. Epherene tilted her head.
“No, no. I’m fine. Why?”
“…”
But Deculein’s expression was still strange. It seemed like he was looking at a real madwoman.
“What…”
When she was about to ask, ‘what’s the matter?’ Epherene noticed the thesis on her desk.
“…Huh?”
「Utilizing the properties of the isotope through potential manipulation: Epherene」
Why was this here? Why was the thesis that she almost finished three days ago and submitted to Deculein for editing and checking back here?
“…”
Had he already corrected it? When she opened it up, it was unfinished. This thesis was incomplete. That was weird. No, it was bizarre. The calculation formula, the magic formula, and the law-general that she wrote, grinding her time and soul, should be here, but why did they all disappear?
“Huh…”
Epherene, who was blankly reading her thesis and her handwriting, suddenly… she raised her head and looked up at Deculein. She asked him, who still looked down on her with suspicion.
“Professor. What day of the week-“
“It’s Wednesday.”
Only then did Epherene realize that something was wrong. She felt that something was wrong. April 9th shouldn’t be a Wednesday. It was not Wednesday. It was Thursday.
“You’re all over the place.”
Deculein shook his head as he prepared to leave, but someone’s voice shuddered in Epherene’s head.
—The sun and the moon will repeat.
—The sun and the moon will repeat.
—The sun and the moon will repeat.
Murkan’s words once seemed like a mysterious riddle.
“Ohhh!”
With her hair bristling, Epherene ran over and clung to the window behind Deculein’s desk.
“…”
The figure of Deculein staring at her as if she were pathetic was reflected in the window, but now she had no time to worry about that. It was too weird. A very absurd phenomenon was unfolding before her eyes.
“Why… are there no cherry blossoms?”
Late March to early April was cherry blossom season on the university campus. Yet those pink flowers were missing. Even after rubbing her eyes, she couldn’t find them, no matter how much she looked. Just yesterday, they were so splendid with those damn couples walking under them that even her eyes hurt.
“…Professor.”
Epherene muttered blankly. Both her eyes were still fixed on the scenery outside the tower.
“What month is-“
“It’s February 17th.”
“…Oh.”
No. This was a dream. What she saw just now wasn’t a dream; this was a dream. Yeah, that’s right. She fell asleep in Deculein’s car. If she closed her eyes, she would wake up again.
“…That’s right.”
If this wasn’t a dream, then…
‘I have to do the thesis again.’
The calculations that almost exploded her head, and the class preparation. What she had worked on so far, the crypt of the Voice, and the tests…
“Let’s wake up from the dream. Yeah.”
Epherene nodded her head vacantly, and bang—! She smacked her forehead against the window.
“Are you crazy? Epherene, gather your senses.”
The moment Deculein approached-
“…Why am I not waking up?”
Bang-!
She hit the window one more time and passed out.
