Pyrene closed her eyes and then opened them again.
In a brief mont, a myriad of emotions flickered across her face.
Since that day, she had always been with her ntor.
She even attended her ntor's funeral, holding him close to her chest.
Pyrene suppressed the urge to laugh when she saw Elpara, their focal point, shedding tears.
She was the one who always ca to et the ntor, unbuttoning her chest and thigh buttons.
Forty years old but acting like a fool.
Next to the ntor, who was twenty years younger than her.
"Do I not need to inform the other professors?"
The morial service was held a month after the accident.
As she fully embraced the demon in her ntor's place, the demon beca accustod to its own mask.
Now, they could converse with each other naturally without the need to search for information.
"Yeah. You heard about the existence of the Black Magician, the mastermind of the terror incident. If my survival is known to him, everyone is in danger."
He said so and added a word.
Words that she would like.
"You are the only one I trust."
She smiled at his words.
Since the ntor beca like this, she felt increasingly dependent on him.
I don't know why he's trying so hard to hide his survival from his colleagues.
I couldn't even understand why the Black Magician was targeting the ntor.
But the worries didn't last long.
She decided to follow the words of her respected ntor.
That's the way to beco a beloved disciple.
After the morial service, she traveled with the ntor.
The ntor wanted to see the world.
Pyrene traveled around the world with a trunk and a bottle in her arms.
It was their long-awaited life alone with the ntor.
The ntor acted like a person who had just co out into the world.
He reacted to every little thing.
Sotis he didn't even know common knowledge.
But Pyrene didn't doubt the ntor's identity for a mont.
It was natural for mory to be impaired when one changed so terribly.
On the contrary, she was glad that he rembered the trivial conversations he had with her even though he forgot important things. It was evidence that she was such an important person to the ntor.
The ntor sotis wanted to co out of the flask.
But unfortunately, he couldn't.
Pyrene already recognized him not as a monster but as a 'person.'
She couldn't use her Inspira on humans.
Once out of the bottle, he might not be able to go back in.
Even the demon in the disease agreed with her opinion.
So he gave her instructions if he needed anything.
She did whatever he asked.
Among them, there were things that she didn't understand and things that she was reluctant to do.
Still, she silently obeyed the ntor's commands.
"Thank you for being my disciple, Pyri."
The ntor's recognition and praise were enough.
He worried about her future as well.
He suggested that she challenge the position of a professor at Lekachep.
She knew how difficult it would be.
The trainer who was teaching the taming course after the ntor, was a top-ranked trainer in the industry.
She didn't think she could dare to take the place of the ntor.
"You are my disciple, Pyri. Just trust ."
The ntor knew what kind of test the school would give her.
A brief visit to the Garden of Whispers was enough.
He trained her to confront the professor according to the answers to the test.
Pyrene passed all the tasks given by the school with full marks.
The professor who was in charge of the taming course gladly handed over her position when an outstanding talent like Pyrene appeared.
"Apprentice of Ursus? Indeed! Who else but he could cultivate such a person as yourself! You travelled around the world for a long ti to broaden your horizons and build your skills, right? Welco, Professor Pyrene!"
Thanks to him, she beca a professor at Lekachep at the age of thirty.
Taking over the ntor's position, she felt her heart swell.
She was officially recognized as the ntor's successor.
"It's all thanks to the ntor."
"It's all thanks to your efforts."
Even after coming to school, the ntor's strange demands didn't stop.
He could provide as much information as she wanted.
She provided rare books he wanted to read and rare items he wanted.
Sotis she even conducted magical experints that made her feel uneasy on his behalf.
But the strangest thing he demanded was separate.
It was collecting creatures infected with the Debulroots.
Creatures mutated by the Debulroots often appeared at auctions.
There were people called 'monster collectors' who actively traded such creatures.
But what the ntor wanted was creatures still in the process of developing Debulroots.
It was an item that was banned from trading unless it was a properly equipped research institution.
Although Lekachep was a prestigious school, it was a circus school.
Even with the title of professor, she couldn't get such dangerous creatures.
So she went to the areas where the Debulroots was occurring herself.
There, she found and brought back creatures infected with the Debulroots.
It was essential to inject the Galaxy repeatedly.
It was an elixir developed by the alchemist guild as a cure for Debulroots, but it had a deadly toxicity. If children were injected, all their hair would fall out.
Because of the frequent injections of the Galaxy, her insides were gradually becoming wrecked.
But she silently obeyed the ntor's orders.
Because the ntor said it was the only way to restore his body.
In the anti, she heard that the Ismi Plateau was infected with Debulroots and hurriedly went there.
It wasn't far from Yeterinpuurk.
She was busy preparing for the entrance exam to the Circus Grand Prix, but she could afford that much ti.
But what she saw when she arrived in the village was just a desolate ruin.
Most of the residents were dead.
"Rumors say people went mad and started devouring each other."
"What did you say!"
The demon in her bottle exclaid in astonishnt.
Pyrene knew what her master was worried about.
She had been pondering on it during her journey from Dvallchep to school.
She recalled the scene she witnessed seventeen years ago at Wonder Stage.
Most people only knew that Wonder Stage had crashed into the sea due to the terrorist attack, but they didn't know exactly what happened inside.
Symptoms of people grotesquely contorting and transforming.
It was undoubtedly the effect of Debulroots.
But she had never seen people going mad and running amok like this before, outside of that place seventeen years ago.
Her master said it was the work of the Black Magician.
That na had been ntioned frequently in the process of reviving the Circus Grand Prix this ti.
There were also concerns about whether he would appear again.
The organizers even ford a specialized tracking team.
His appearance near Yeterinpuurk was undeniable.
The demon in the bottle trembled.
It seed like he might appear again when the Circus Grand Prix reopened.
But coming so close.
Maybe… maybe…
… to find his traces?
Uh-uh.
"We need to advance the plan."
Pyrene nodded as if there was no other choice at her master's words.
Her master's plan was to create a vessel for his soul.
But that originally took several more years.
She looked around the shelves in the secret room.
Glass jars containing creatures infected with the curse plague were inside.
They were all collected by her master to recover his body.
The symptoms of their bodies transforming stopped once they were put into glass jars.
Her Inspira's 'Fixation' function also applied to Debulroots.
There were still active Debulroots inside the jars.
The original plan was to collect them for a few more years to create his body.
But they couldn't wait for several years in uncertainty about how the Black Magician would co out.
Pyrene straightened her expression and stood in the corner of the office.
Today she had to do the most daunting task she had ever done.
"Professor, I'm ready."
In the center of the office.
There was an 18-year-old girl in neat attire.
Clara.
She had received Pyrene's favour during the entrance exam and was helping her with what she was doing.
One of Pyrene's acquaintances was preparing an experintal stage, and it was the test of that script.
Clara readily accepted her proposal.
Compared to the favor she had received, it was an easy task.
Clara visited the professor's office every evening and perford dances, lines, and songs as instructed by her.
It was definitely an experintal piece.
Quite obscure movents and pronunciation.
Of course, Clara, as the top student in Lekachep's grade, accurately perford all of them as demanded.
But she wouldn't know.
Her dancing was a ritual of offering herself to the maestro, her lines were a spell to remove her soul from her body, and her singing was a chant to summon the soul of the other party into her body.
And the drinks the professor always provided contained drugs needed for the ritual, the floor of the professor's office was painted with patterns necessary for the spell, and behind the screen beyond the professor's desk, the one who provided all of that was watching her.
Today was the culmination of weeks of preparation.
At Pyrene's signal, Clara unfolded everything she had learned so far as if it was flowing water.
There was not a single mistake.
Indeed, she was worthy of being the top student.
As Clara began the ritual, she felt sothing strange.
Her body felt sluggish strangely, and her head felt dizzy when she recited her lines.
And when she sang the last song, she felt a floating sensation in her consciousness.
But she kept going.
The show had to go on, a mindset deeply ingrained in the acrobats' rituals.
And especially as an elite course graduate, there was no question about it.
She couldn't stop the performance just because she felt a little dizzy.
Moreover, the sponsor behind the screen for this stage she had devised was present.
In the industry's network.
She had to show a good performance.
The ritual lasted for a few minutes.
As the last movent stopped and the last line left Clara's lips.
At that mont.
Magic was activated.
As Clara waited for the organizer of this stage to co out after finishing the ritual and looking behind the screen, she felt sothing wriggling inside her body.
"Cough!"
She clutched her throat and collapsed to the floor.
Her breath was choked.
Sothing was coming out of her throat and into her mouth.
"Cough, cough, cough! Pro-professor! My, my body!"
She urgently looked for Pyrene.
She thought she would do sothing to help.
But when she looked up at where the professor was supposed to be, she froze.
The professor wasn't even looking at her.
She had a joyful expression on her face.
Toward the screen where her acquaintance was.
"Master!"
Master?
Clara recalled the presence of a master, whom Pyrene ntioned during their usual class ti.
Ursus, one of the Famous Five.
Why was he, who had died long ago here?
But she couldn't think further about him.
A tingling sensation ran through her entire body.
"Guek!"
Sothing gushed out of her mouth.
It was a viscous, slimy substance.
It poured out from every hole in her body.
"Heek!"
She slumped to the floor with a gasp, like a deflated doll.
Clara tried to scream.
But no sound ca out.
Her muscles felt heavy, as if they had lted.
She tried to look at her body.
But even her vision was chaotic.
It was like looking through dozens of randomly overlapped lenses.
It felt like struggling in swirling waves.
Then, she heard the professor's voice.
"Clara, co here. This place is safe."
Professor? You're the professor? What's happening?
"Co on, co in here. Do you trust ? Everything will be okay if you co in here."
In the confusion, Clara rembered the professor's face.
Professor Pyrene.
Always kind to students, understanding of their hearts.
The one who saved her.
'Ah, professor. I'll go.'
That way, she threw herself into a sparkling light.
The viscous, slimy substance Clara had poured out flowed into the glass jar.
She didn't know where she was.
But she felt very comfortable and cozy.
Her vision, hearing, and sense of touch all returned to normal.
She looked at the scene beyond the glass jar.
There was her favorite professor.
And next to her, she saw another person.
Clara couldn't help but be astonished at her.
She looked very familiar.
Too familiar…
An 18-year-old girl with blue hair and a modest style.
The face she saw every morning in the mirror.
She was none other than herself.
"It worked."
The girl once known as Clara, once inside the bottle, smiled.
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