The Basics of Magipetrology, the subject I hated most.
There wasn’t much that I could learn about mana stones, probably due to all the knowledge I had gained from being rolled like a rock beneath Professor Hasfeldt for three years. But that was what made Magipetrology classes ‘boring’, not ‘hated’.
Then why did I hate it?
Because of the prof.
“... Hm, we will be taking a tour of this place in place of today’s class.”
Since the professor was like this, classes weren’t fun. No, it didn’t just stop at not being fun, but the materials we needed to learn were missing.
“Um, Professor, are you not taking attendance?”
“It won’t be reflected in your marks.”
The characteristic of the Magipetrology professor was their permissivistic style of teaching. To put it nicely, they let students be assertive with their studies; to put it bluntly, they were a salary thief.
“I have a colloquium so this is where I take my leave. So if you have any questions, please ask the TA....”
Like that Professor So-and-so left us. Gone with the wind.
[What the fuck. Isn’t this a serious problem?]
Thanks for cursing for , hardcover.
They had already been sothing of a legend since a couple weeks ago, but today, the stunt they pulled rendered even the Prince and Rosemary silent. Couldn’t this person be the final boss instead?
“... What was the prof’s na again?”
“I don’t know. They never told us at the orientation.”
“It’s not even on the syllabus?”
“I don’t rember.......”
“Hah.”
I had to sigh. I could use Hydro Pump© with just my blood pressure right now.
“This is supposed to be a core course?”
“Seriously.”
Rosemary said sothing right for once. How serious was it that even she was like this?
“Sis, am I the only one who doesn’t understand this? Colloquium or whatever it is, isn’t it common sense to cancel and schedule a make-up class if you need to be absent during the lecture?”
“It is.”
“Then why....”
“People who are beyond common sense do exist, Lady Blanton.”
There had been people like that when I was in university as well. It seed that there was at least one per departnt.
“Humans....”
And what the hell was she blowing things out of proportion for.
“They must be from a noble family but this is incredibly irresponsible! They’re the worst!”
“If even Saliere is saying that, then it’s pretty serious.”
“Well, nobody threatened you with a staff to apply for Tilette, did they?”
“Hey, would Iliad take transfers right now?”
With the lecturer gone, the class instantly turned chaotic. It only settled down again thanks to the class pres Mayreel and Lotte.
For a while, we just went around looking at mana stones. Well, at least the TA was still here so it didn’t seem anyone was declaring themselves a free period....
... Wait a sec.
“Guys, do you know where the TA went?”
“Huh, good question...?”
Ah, my head.
**This large seven-story museum located within the Academy also doubled as a distribution warehouse.
Here, you could borrow or donate many mana stones for experintation and training aid purposes. And if you wished, you could purchase them for less than the full price. It was a perk of sorts.
In particular, if a student who was part of a club wanted to make a purchase, the school paid most of the cost so you could get away with a bit of robbery to a certain extent.
For this reason, and a few others stayed behind even after most of the class left.
“Excuse , I’m a student from the Transmutation Club. Could you help get so mana stones? They’re for research and production purposes.”
“Of course.”
When I showed my club mbership, the manager readily gave permission.
Co to think of it, this place had also helped out when I was making Flare. I had borrowed Gargantua’s armor and used it as a target. And here I was making a purchase half a year later.
“Here it is: steel, mythril, orichalcum, aluminum, titanium dioxide, black iron, purple stone.... Is the amount enough?”
They could’ve called this place a dungeon and I would’ve believed it. Grinning brightly like the sun doing nuclear fusion, I went down from the third to the second floor.
“Wow, that’s a lot.”
“What are you going to use all this for?”
I brought a finger to my lips and shh’d instead of answering.
Just then, I locked eyes with Rosemary. Her brilliantly gleaming ocean blues stared at .
But our staring contest didn’t last for long due to Klion’s grumbling.
“This really is boring. Even a slave bitch could teach a class like this.”
The Second Prince tsked at the sad reality of Tilette’s education. So the saying was true that even a broken clock was right twice a day.
Of course, the speaker and ssage were two separate things. Just as I was nodding to the Prince’s words for the first ti, Klion closed the distance with arrogant strides.
“Do you not think so as well?”
“Um, if you could please keep back a ter.”
“How cruel.”
Dejected, Klion was just about to return to his place.
“Indeed, isn’t it cruel, Your Highness?”
The fan decorated with black feathers quivered, and Rosemary giggled behind it. Making eye contact with her, the Prince sighed as if he had no choice.
Klion raised his voice and spoke.
“T-that’s right. Just because I’ve been letting things slide lately, you’ve beco rather insolent...!”
His acting was so bad that I couldn’t even get angry. Lotte and Freyr must have felt the sa because they glance blithely at the Prince before turning their heads away.
“Let’s go, guys.”
Today’s class was a flop. Yeah, it was just one of those days.
“... Hm?”
When I turned the corner, there stood a mirror I had never seen before.
Strange. According to my mory of the locations of every exhibit in the museum, there should’ve been a different mirror here.
Both mirrors were similar sizes, but this one was about five centiters taller. It was definitely a different mirror.
Good, this was what I had been looking for.
Freyr, who had been following, knocked her head into my back and cried ‘Ouch!’. Fixing her large witch hat, she grumbled.
“The hell! Why did you suddenly stop?”
“I think my hair’s caught on the sack.”
I got through the situation smoothly with an improvised response, and thought hard while organizing my ssy hair.
The mirror in front of was called the ‘Inner Mirror’, an active item with a probability of letting regain the real Aether’s mories, not ‘mine’.
The ‘probability’ ntioned here also included the word ‘partially’. So even if I looked into this mirror and regained mories, it’d only be so of it. Of course, the source of this information was the elf.
, the ga which was the stage of this world, had a strong probability factor. That ant a simple roll of the dice could turn the tables, so I was told not to interact with gambling-related items.
But this was only an advice. There were problems that couldn’t be solved just by looking at this world as a probability-based ga.
In a situation like now where I couldn’t make Flare, I had to be flexible.
Synchronize with my other self and find an alternate way to research. This was the best choice I could make at the mont.
[Isn’t this a bit dangerous?]
It was going to be, but the benefits outweighed the risks.
[I know you’re in a hurry to do research but this might be bad in the long run. You should be more careful even for the sake of the distant future....]
And this decision was the result of careful consideration. From what Verl had said, the original Aether acted similar to so it shouldn’t be that dangerous, anyway.
If she had been a danger in the first place, she wouldn’t have erased her mories and struggled to blend in with humans.
[Oh shit! This person has completely lost it after going to grad school twice...!!]
I gestured to my friend to go ahead first.
“I’ll catch up after I fix my hair.”
“Co to the cafeteria if you’re going to be late!”
It was just for a mont but I saw Rosemary light up. She didn’t stop looking at until she left.
I slunk up to the mirror like a tiger targeting its prey. A girl appeared in the mirror as spotless as a calm pond.
It was the white-haired, gold-eyed girl from last ti.
The girl smiled.
I smiled in return.
And then....
**I woke up in a space that reminded of a black hole.
The place was surrounded by darkness. It was an atmosphere that perfectly fit the English word ‘Darkest’.
Still, it wasn’t completely dark, aning there was a light source, but it was only a single light that scattered down from sowhere in the ceiling.
An invisible hand nudged my back, then my body shot forward like the north and south poles of a magnet attracting to each other.
I dragged my feet and tried my best to slow down sohow. When I finally ca to a halt, I was standing in the middle of the light.
It was a similar sensation to the dream I had last ti. I couldn’t move freely except to look at sothing.
Where was this?
Why was it this kind of place?
As I pondered uselessly, the light started blinking like a morse code.
Blink. Blink. Blink.
─ Ah.... Ahhh....... Ahh....
I could hear screaming every ti the light turned off. The area that had been nothing more than a liminal space while the light had been on transford into a place of wailing every ti the light vanished.
─ Ah.... Ahhh....... Ahh....
Black. White. Black. White.
Scream. Silence. Scream. Silence.
─ Ah.... Ahhh....... Ahh....
White. Black. White. Black.
Life. Death. Life. Death.
─ AHHHHHHHHHHHHH─!!!!
The light that had been blinking for a while like a dying fluorescent lamp soon flew off sowhere. As such, its original spot plunged into darkness and disturbing noises rang in my ears like hallucinatory sounds.
I had to run.
I ran desperately to get away from these screams of hell. I ran with all my might towards the light because I didn’t want to hear this awful noise.
I didn’t know for how long I ran.
With only a few ters left, the light source suddenly stopped. Then it illuminated the surroundings with an even brighter light than before. The songs of death had already vanished beyond the boundaries.
Slowly unplugging my ears, I looked straight ahead. There was a splendidly decorated throne sitting in the center of the light.
And a black-haired girl sat upon it.
[... You’ve co.]
She spoke telepathically while exuding a different kind of force from Rosemary.
[This is your tomb.]
It was unmistakable.
The original owner of this body had revealed herself.
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