A tense air filled the office of the academy's principal.
An unprecedented event in the history of the academy. No, even the thought of that event was so absurd that the principal couldn't help but hold his head, but it had already happened.
Using the upgraded versions of the tools the academy had provided the adventurer guild, the principal had already sent a few of the best faculty in the academy to find clues into what had happened.
It was dangerous, but the teachers wielded strength manifold that of the students. No matter the situation, as long as they were not crossing the seventieth floor of the Elysium Tower, there wasn't going to be much of a problem.
The principal stood from his seat in the dim-lit office that emitted splendor. He went past the stacks upon stacks of documents and papers before reaching into his closet.
Inside, was green-hued stone that reached his stomach. The Terrifying Teal Tablet.
The principal snapped his fingers and locked all the doors and windows in his office before placing his palm over the tablet.
A sharp breath.
He closed his eyes and focused his mana into the sigil on his hand.
As someone who had already reached the realm of Aether and was a wizard of levels beyond any other in the world, the principal, Lushan von Bergus didn't really need to contact his fairy for assistance.
But these events held a deep connection with Alfheim.
Even though he couldn't summon his fairy to the world like a few others could, he still held the ability to converse with his fairy thanks to the Terrifying Teal Tablet.
As the sigil on the back of his hand started shimmering with energy, a soft voice entered his ears.
"Lushan."
"What is the situation? Were you able to find anything?"
"That girl's partner was apprehended by Queen Mab and King Oberon."
"Tsk. Is there no way find anything? The entire deal between Alfheim and the Academy is at stake here."
"It's tough to find out a lot, but she says that someone blocked her powers before she could take the girl out."
"What? Is that even possible?"
"It is… if there is a much stronger fairy… or if its a god."
Lushan pursed his lips and lowered his head.
That day…
"Just what happened that day?"
***
"Eugy, Eugy!"
"Yes?"
"I think this symbol is taken from the fairies' language.
Pointing at one of the many symbols I had narrowed out from the third part of whatever the book the Marquis given me was, Titania lazily danced over the table.
Once again, I was in the library.
"Oh? That's helpful, can you tell me what the letters are like in the fairies' language?" I said.
"Sure! I'll write it for you!"
If there was any similarity it would be helpful. Since there was a rather short variety of only 70 letters in the book, the language seemed to be a phonetic one instead of ideographic one. If I could trace back the similarities in other old languages, it would be possible to find the meaning of each word, that discovery would only be aided by the sounds since almost all languages shared the meaning of sounds.
A sharp sound like 'ka' or 'ki' was more likely to be associated with more violent actions in most languages. This was similar.
Perhaps irked by the fairy contributing, the cat that was waving its tail on my table suddenly stood up.
"W-what bullshit! These words are similar to our languages in hell as well."
"Is that so?" I asked, stroking the cat's, Dantalian's back.
"Of course. Don't you know that I am the demon lord of all sciences and rhetoric? Figuring out a language or two is easy as pie. I'll help you write stuff too."
"What the heck have you been doing for all these days then?"
"Grooming."
"Well, I am thankful either way." A smile left me when the cat scuttled over my shoulders and looked at the letters I had singled out from above.
Right then, a bang sounded behind me. Following that sharp sound was the drumming of heavy footsteps.
I looked behind and found a redhead walking over to me, his clenched fists trembling with each step.
The boy appeared right behind me and raised his hands in anger before putting them down.
"Eugene Hall…"
I wasn't that insensitive to not know who it was.
Such a strong reaction, as if I had killed this person's lover, was only possible from one person.
"Luka."
"Why… have you been avoiding classes?" He spoke through his teeth, his anger not hidden. The same darkness I had felt from him during the entrance test flowed around him, now seeming stronger than even before.
With a sigh, I pulled back the chair next to my table and pointed him to it. Catene immediately dashed off to fetch us some water.
Bastard didn't want to be involved in this conversation.
"I have been busying myself with all this," I mentioned, pointing at the books splayed over the table.
Luka's fists trembled even more wildly than before as he looked at them. It seemed that if his gaze landed on me, he wouldn't be able to hold himself back and pounce on me right away.
How pitiful.
It was an intense reaction, but it made sense.
Anyone would be like that if they lost their lover, whether he had come into contact with her in this timeline or not, his memories were strong.
Come to think of it, he had no idea that the girl who had died, the young knight that was supposed to be one of the first heroines of the game, was also a regressor. Right, no one knew that. Not even Dawn.
"Eugene…" Luka spoke again, the agony in his words clear as day to even someone like me who couldn't judge tones. "That time… were you really caught in that trap?"
I raised my hand and gently patted Luka's shoulders.
I could offer him words of condolences, or maybe ask him to trust me, but none of that would be enough.
A sincere, simple answer would do.
"I was," I said. "I was in that trap. And you know it too, since you and Albert came to find me at its end."
On the thirteenth floor of the tower, a week ago.
During the first exploration assignment for the first years, Albert, Luka and I had formed a team again. We scoured through the first ten floors at a pace no one could follow and eventually reached the eleventh, twelfth, and even the thirteenth floor in the time limit assigned to us to conquer just seven.
But, there was another group that was close by.
A group of three from the third class of the first years, was the other group that had crossed the first ten floors and was in a close match-up with the group led by the two Fonias twins.
Each floor of the tower had a different kind of test as compared to Deep Down Dive which only required you to fight your way through.
It was during such a test that I had fallen for a trap and was separated from these two.
And during that very dive, when we came out.
The leader of the group that had crossed the tenth floor was dead, and the two others were gravely injured without any knowledge of what had happened.
Luka glared around the place for a bit. Then, he lowered his head and sighed.
"Luka," I spoke.
"What…?"
"Did you ask that fairy of yours how their powers could be stopped?"
The redhead raised his gaze and looked at me. I continued gently patting his shoulders in an attempt to calm him down.
"H-how…?"
"It should either be a stronger fairy…" I leaned in closer to him and whispered. "Or a god that can rival the powers of Alfheim."
"G-god…?"
"I don't know why you are so hung up about that girl's death."
Luka flinched. It seemed he would get angry, so I put more strength in my palm. "I am sure it's something more than just another student passing away. But I won't ask you anything."
Asking him to trust me was bad.
"I trust you, friend," I said. "So please. Don't do anything rash while you get to the bottom of things. Even if I can't help you much, there is someone who has lived well over a hundred years very close to the tower near us."
"The principal…"
"He might know something."
Luka bit his lips and nodded.
"I am sorry," he said and stood up. "I still don't trust you fully, Eugene."
What was that about now?
"But I will try."
Without waiting to hear an answer, Luka walked away. I watched him leave, shrugged, and got back to work.
"Wow, way to push the attention on someone," the cat waved its tail while speaking. "The principal might get pissed."
"Not my problem," I said.
"Say, Eugene… Did we have to go for someone like that? I told you there were others who wouldn't bring such a problem."
"It's fine…" I smiled and started flipping through the pages. "If we're killing them all, we should start strong."
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺