There was a man nad Weible.
He was a typical young man who grew up in a poor countryside village and moved to the Imperial capital a few years ago. After finding a room for rent near the Academy, he majored in clinical pathology at a general university and began building a life.
Being a clinical pathologist was alright. It didn’t feel like it fit him but it wasn’t as if he couldn’t stand it. In an age where all sorts of diseases were prevalent, there was always a shortage of dical workers. It was at least enough to keep him fed.
But it was still physically taxing. Weible scrunched up the letter from the dical Association and tsked.
This week’s going to be busy.
The letter asked that they cooperate in conducting physical exams for all students of Tilette Academy.
It was rather botherso. He was already busy with his work at the hospital, and now there was this on top of it.
But I’ll get paid, at least.
Anticipating a decent pay from the higher-ups, he sat down. It was getting late into the night.
Weible went to drink tea before bed as usual. As he considered which to choose between chamomile and Solomon’s Seal1, he thought about how work was going to get tough starting tomorrow and decided on chamomile.
“Huu, very nice.”
Taking in the warm scent, he sat on his bed. He brought the adequately cooled tea to his mouth and took a sip. The feeling of sothing healthy and warm filled his stomach. At the comfortable, languid sensation, a wave of sleepiness was taking him over.
His sleeping hours had been all over the place due to frequent work, but he felt like he’d sleep well tonight. Weible watched the moon’s reflection in the window and enjoyed the unexpected mood.
“...Hm?”
The moon vanished.
Weible stared out the window, dumbfounded. He blinked as he wondered what in the world happened.
The moon couldn’t suddenly disappear. Yet the moonlight that had been illuminating the room just until a mont ago was cleared. Only after squinting his eyes did Weible realize that sothing was sitting at the window.
Splat.
“Wh-what is this....”
The thing covering the window was so black, sticky, solid matter. The thing that was half- liquid form looked like a chunk of tar that was removed from the lung cancer patient. The bigger problem was that it was wiggling and moving.
“Uh, uhh....”
Shatter!
Weible dropped the glass that he had been holding. His mind turned blank like an empty canvas.
It wasn’t reason that was deciding what to do here. The survival instinct that had been imprinted into his genes since the past set off a gut alarm in his head.
He had to run.
“F-fuck!! What the hell is thiiiiis!!!”
Weible threw the comforter and took a few steps back. It was a swift movent. But the tar that sensed sothing quickly sucked up the comforter and spread to the bed and floor.
“Uwaaaaaaa!!!”
Weible gasped. He barely managed to move his shaking legs and tried to get out of the bedroom.
It was too late.
“W-why isn’t this opening!”
The mass of tar had already gotten to the door before him using the wall. After scarfing down the door like so glutton, the unknown substance splatted its way towards Weible.
The whole place beca shrouded in darkness. There was nowhere to run.
“Stay back! Stay baaack!!”
That was the last sound that the young man could make.
A part of the tar overtook the man. It first covered his mouth, then restrained him tightly with tentacles with blackish red suckers. The chunk that entered his mouth beca a sharp point and shredded up the roof of his mouth.
The man struggled for a while, then slumped. Starting with his head, the solid matter ate away at his organs.
Soon, all the sli and tentacles cleared away, and the exterior of the man was relatively intact. The moonlight began shining through the window again.
How much ti had passed since then? The young man who had been laying still like a rotting corpse stood up with a chuckle.
“Well, wasn’t that a good al after a long ti.”
There was a man nad Weible.
**“We will start with checking your height and weight!”
“First years, please line up over here!”
Well, here I was.
I was standing here without a proper plan. No, I did have one but it seed like it wasn’t going to work at all.
Regrettably, I was going to need Rosemary’s help with this part. To be getting help from a younger sibling who I considered as my enemy–there was no greater irony than this.
As I just stood waiting while chewing on my lip–
“And the next number is.... Huh?
I locked eyes with a face I’d seen a few tis.
They were light green eyes that were hard to see at Tilette. Contrary to her ponytail that was braided to one side, she was a girl with characteristically gentle eyes. It was Shadiel Argana, an executive of the Student Council in charge of the disciplinary committee.
“If it isn’t our Golden-Eyed junior. Long ti no see!”
“Hello, Senior.”
“Why so down? Ah, perhaps....”
Yes, I have a secret, sothing that will get expelled as soon as it’s found out.
“...Did you gain weight?”
“No?”
“It’s alright, it happens.”
“I didn’t.”
It was this kind of body in the first place, so what was the point of weighing?
No, wait.
A staggering thought just flashed across my mind.
[1. When volu is the sa, the greater the density, the greater the mass.]
[2. On average, the density of a human is 990 kg/m3.]
[3. The density of iron is about 7900 kg/m3.]
[4. The difference between 2 and 3 is about 8 tis.]
[5. Thus if they weigh , it’s going to be 8 tis that of a human.]
[Conclusion : Fucked.]
“Ah.”
“What is it?”
“It’s nothing.”
My shoulder twitched unconsciously. Shadiel gave a concerned look, but I forced a smile.
It couldn’t be, could it?
“Okay, next student co in.”
Guided by the staff helping with the exam, I stepped onto the scale. Due to undeveloped Elec Magic, it wasn’t an electronic scale. As I got on the scale, it made twanging sounds as the springs compressed.
“...Hm.”
“You’re heavier than you look.”
“Hey, you don’t say that to a lady.”
“Still, this much is fine.”
I sighed in relief when I saw the number.
Of course. If I was going to be caught just by a weight check, then it would’ve been a problem the mont I sat on the classroom chair.
“Let’s see, height is.... about 160?”
“162, it’s 162.”
After getting my height asured as well, I zoned out while sitting in the waiting room. Sitting next to , Freyr was muttering sothing with a dissatisfied face.
“Weird.... I drank a lot of milk....”
“You’re an adult; your growth plates should be sealed.”
“No! Arrghh!!”
Freyr went under.
Sure. Let’s say that I sohow passed the height and weight part. The biggest problem was the blood draw.
Cataclysms had tough skins so it couldn’t be penetrated through normal ans. They wouldn’t be able to draw blood with a needle.
Still, let’s say that they drew blood successfully sohow. When the clinical pathologist examined my blood, they’d detect rcury. Would they keep quiet?
From what I’d learned from Elental Magic class, most Beasts had black blood. This was the weird thing. Though my blood produced cinnabar when it was dried, it was still red in color.
[Ah, I know why that is! It’s probably because of another component that sticks to the rcury! The rcury compounds with oxygen attached give them a black color!]
I wasn’t asking.
[Arrrghh! Why can’t you appreciate it even when I tell you sothing!!]
The hardcover went under.
“Anyway, this waiting part is boring.”
“Want to talk with you?”
“Senior Shadiel.”
I guess she didn’t have difficulty talking to soone she didn’t know well since she was a Student Council executive.
Co to think of it, Lotte and Freyr had also approached first. They say that the west had this kind of small talk culture. I an, I heard that in the US it was pretty common for soone sitting next to you on a bench to start talking to you while resting from a walk in the park.
“You know how it’s not just us taking a break this week but most of the professors as well. Do you know why?”
Shadiel casually set the conversation topic. Shaking my head, I listened to what she said next.
“It’s because of the noble assembly.”
“Noble assembly?”
“Yup. It’s sothing that takes place once every four years, a short eting where the nobles gather at the palace and discuss all sorts of matters of the country all at once. There, people receive titles or get demoted, too.”
“Sounds rather scary.”
It sounded like a periodic business report.
“Still, there aren’t many cases of demotion. Unless a person who’d been fine suddenly performs an exorcism in the assembly hall.”
“Are you attending as well?”
“I’m planning to follow my father there. Would you like to go, too?”
“?”
My finger pointed at . With wide eyes, I spoke.
“But I’m still a commoner.”
“You’ll at least be a Baron once you graduate from Tilette. Aren’t you the first place in your grade? I’m sure you’ll receive the title of Viscount or Count. Miss Heerlein graduated in third place and started as a Viscount.”
“Still, we can’t know that yet.”
A noble’s eting. I could imagine it being a headache-inducing experience.
I didn’t want to participate if I could help it. Whatever the world was, getting caught in between higher-ups was basically being the shrimp in a whale fight2. I’d rather do more research than go there.
After that, thirty minutes flew by while we chatted away.
And then.
“First years in this line, please follow . We’ll be doing a blood draw!”
It was finally here.
Footnotes
1. A common Korean tea made from the stem of this plant2. Korean idiom aning innocent bystanders get hurt in another's fight
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