novelraw Chapter 90 : 5th Class (2)
Chapter 90 : 5th Class (2)
Chapter 90: 5th Class (2)
“Artel! What kind of interview was it? You can tell me before I go, right?”
Keled asked the question with genuine intent, clearly aiming for the 5th Class.
“Yeah, I can’t tell you.”
“Why!”
“If we disclose the interview contents, they said they’ll cancel all our passes and expel us.”
“As long as we don’t get caught, it’s fine!”
He had started throwing a tantrum now.
“That’s right! There’s no way we’d get caught! There are only the four of us here anyway.”
His friends beside him agreed, backing Keled up.
‘There are four Mobs gathered here—do you really think the professor wouldn’t know, you idiots.’
Well, the fact that Mobs had become surveillance tools was probably something only I, among the students, knew.
Since it was only natural that these students wouldn’t know, I felt oddly guilty for calling them idiots in my head.
“Ah, I don’t know. I’m scared. That’s it, conversation over! See you in the 5th Class~.”
I brushed it off and shut the door just like that.
“Hmm…… what on earth could the interview be?”
“Since the student ability evaluation changed into duels, maybe it’s a duel with a professor?”
“Then Artel wouldn’t have passed! No matter if he’s a double caster, how could he beat a professor! It must be way easier than that!”
The three of them started throwing out all kinds of guesses, like they were playing detective, right in front of my dorm room door.
“Could you keep it down in front of someone else’s dorm?”
When I shouted toward the door, they cheerfully yelled, “Sorry!” and left.
Now I lay down on my bed and imagined life in the 5th Class.
‘Will the 5th Class student ability evaluation also be decided by duels?’
The advanced class, 5th Class.
I was now standing right at the threshold where I could meet Etar.
Moreover, since I was moving up in the middle of the semester, it wouldn’t take a full year until graduation.
I would spend barely a month in 3rd Class before going to 5th Class.
That meant the remaining semester was just a little over two months.
I didn’t know what the 5th Class student ability evaluation would be like, but within those two months, Kiena and Hei also had to fully adapt and pass the second semester exam.
Only then would everything fall into place according to the plan I had drawn.
‘I’ll need to grasp the atmosphere of the 5th Class as soon as I get there.’
Meanwhile, Etar had already received news from the 3rd Class.
Artel, Kiena, and Hei.
He had been informed that all three had passed the interview without major issues.
Etar spread their admission certificates side by side and examined them closely.
“That’s a relief. I reviewed the interview contents, and it would have been an automatic fail for any ordinary student.”
Former, as always, had come to the Headmaster’s Office and was sitting across from Etar.
“We did get through it for now, but…….”
However, Etar’s expression wasn’t good.
“Is something the matter? Things turned out exactly as you wanted, but your expression is far too dark.”
In response to Former’s question, Etar activated a Mob and showed it to him.
It was a Sculptor-exclusive Mob, and on Etar’s Mob, the names of members currently affiliated with the Sculptor were marked in red.
While examining the Mob, Former spotted a familiar name.
[Rezi]
“No, when did Teacher Rezi join the Sculptor? More importantly…… who made contact with him?”
“Vise did. I’d heard the circumstances before. Vise has good instincts, so I trusted his choice.”
Even on the day the Emmet Family was wiped out, the head of the family, Vise, had sensed something ominous and scattered the family members in all directions.
It was truly animalistic intuition.
Since Rezi was someone that man had trusted and newly brought in, Etar harbored no suspicions.
And decisively—
The reason Etar’s expression was dark wasn’t because Rezi had joined.
Rather, Etar himself was quite pleased that Rezi had become part of the Sculptor.
Etar quietly pointed to the name at the very top of the list: Impel.
Impel’s name was white, not red.
“Impel…….”
A white name meant only two things.
Either the person was dead, or they had destroyed their Mob.
Either way, it meant that something had gone wrong with Impel, who was active in the Royal Guard.
Below Impel’s name, the names of the Emmet Family survivors—those who had already volunteered themselves as sacrifices, including Laren—were listed in white.
The reason the dead were marked in white was to honor Arkis Aimer.
In life, the color he bore was white, and his nickname was also The Clear White.
But he was no longer living in this world.
Those who had disappeared from the world and gone to his side were marked with white letters in that sense.
“Could it be that Impel…… is dead?”
“I don’t think so. I contacted Vise and asked—he said the Royal Guard is still stationed in the Underworld. If someone as high-ranking as a Vice-Captain died, they’d have to go through all sorts of bothersome ceremonies to appoint the next one, and that place is at the very top of the main school. Since it’s the Archmage’s Royal Guard, the Archmage himself has to appoint them.”
“Then that means he’s still safe for now.”
Former said with relief.
It wasn’t death—Impel had destroyed the Sculptor-exclusive Mob himself, a measure to tighten security even further.
“That’s right. ‘For now.’”
But Etar’s expression was still dark.
It truly was just ‘for now.’ Whether it was a few hours later at the shortest, or a few days later at the longest, it wouldn’t be strange for him to die under the circumstances he was in.
“How did Impel end up…… becoming suspicious?”
“It’s obvious without even looking. It must be because of this. That Tyrant bastard—he’s cruel by nature, but his brain is filthy sharp. Do you think he wouldn’t be able to tell the potion he made himself?”
Etar was still keeping the potion he had secretly handed to Impel when Impel had visited this place to go to the 1st Class.
“Anyway, even Impel’s activities have been blocked now. You know what that means, right?”
“Yes. It means an all-out war is approaching.”
Etar checked the Sculptor’s forces once more.
The Ramus Branch School and Rus Branch School, both fellow Sculptor members.
And Nide, the 1st Class professor at his own branch school, along with his children who held teacher and professor positions across each class.
No matter how much he reviewed and rechecked, he couldn’t see any chance of victory.
“But you know…….”
Etar’s gaze shifted to the admission certificates laid out beside Artel’s—those of the joint admission students, Kiena and Hei.
Etar poked Hei’s admission certificate with his finger.
“This student mastered Tap-Taking in just a little over a week, didn’t he?”
“……Yes.”
“You said yourself, Vice Headmaster, that when you saw him in Class 0, there was something unsettling and mysterious about him.”
“That’s right.”
“Hm, is it because we focused only on the student named Artel? It seems we realized these two students’ extraordinary talents far too late.”
During that time, Etar’s attention had been directed solely toward Artel.
Because the things Artel had shown inevitably drew one’s attention.
From Class 0, to being a double caster, to displaying exceptional magical application skills in the 1st Class.
Moreover, during the open tour of the Nohill and Mihael Families that took place when he was in the 1st Class, it went so far that both family heads lost their memories.
Even if he didn’t want to pay attention, his attention was naturally drawn.
Because due to the incident where the two family heads lost their memories, not only Etar but even Tyrant was in a state of focusing on Artel.
But the two students hidden behind such an Artel, Kiena and Hei.
They were undoubtedly immensely talented.
Hei, who mastered Tap-Taking in a week, and Kiena, who handled three relics.
If Artel was a brilliantly shining light that received everyone’s attention, then those two students were the shadows created by that light.
When light is born, darkness in the form of shadows naturally comes into existence, and light and darkness always coexist.
“……If only there had been a little more time.”
Etar expressed deep regret.
If there really had been a few years, just as he wished, he had intended to raise those two students as well.
Because the Sculptor’s current strength was far too lacking compared to Tyrant’s, to the point where even young students were tempting.
“Former.”
“Yes, Headmaster.”
“Just in case, raise Hei and Kiena as well. There’s no time, but…… so that after we disappear, these two can inherit our will.”
“Understood.”
They were far too excellent talents to abandon simply because there was no time.
Especially Hei, who was showing growth unprecedented in the history of the Magical Society, and Kiena, who was displaying absurd talent in summoning.
Therefore, if it was impossible to raise them as mages to add to their fighting strength, the plan was to at least properly educate them mentally and cultivate them into the next-generation Sculptors who would gather the broken pieces after the Sculptor disappeared.
They were students worth placing such hopes on.
“This 5th Class will become the most interesting 5th Class in branch school history. Preparations on the 5th Class side are going well, right?”
“Yes, of course. They’re almost finished.”
“I’ll go meet some friends for a bit. Until then, I’ll leave security to you.”
“Understood. Have a safe trip.”
Asking him to handle security meant not leaving the Headmaster’s Office and guarding the place until Etar returned.
“Could you push me for a moment?”
“Yes. Where would you like me to push you?”
“There.”
In one corner of the Headmaster’s Office, there were three fireplaces.
From the right, they were a fireplace with an extinguished bulb, one with black firewood, and one containing a rough stone lump.
These were waypoints connected to the Headmaster’s Offices of the Ramus Branch School and Rus Branch School, both members of the Sculptor under Etar.
Etar pointed to the fireplace with the stone lump.
“Are you heading to the Ramus Branch School?”
“Yeah. It’s more comfortable talking with that Tresha guy. That Alfric guy feels a bit stifling.”
“Isn’t the Light Element originally a bit stubborn? Because it has a desire to shine brilliantly.”
“That’s the same for me as Fire.”
As Etar stood in front of the stone fireplace, the stone lumps gathered on their own and formed a portal.
“Looks like that Tresha guy was bored too. To respond this quickly.”
The method was such that when Etar stood in front of a specific waypoint, the other side had to open the portal for him to go.
This, too, was all a measure taken for security.
“Please go without worry, Headmaster.”
“Thank you.”
Etar pulled his wheelchair into the portal.
The Headmaster’s Office of the Ramus Branch School, where he arrived.
As befitting the head of the representative Earth Element family and the Headmaster’s Office of the Ramus Branch School, it felt like entering a cave.
It was musty and damp, but at least to Etar, it felt cozy.
“Well, who do we have here? Isn’t this the great Ed Etar who didn’t even make contact for several years?”
Ramus Tresha said mockingly.
Dark brown eyes and hair.
A tall, slender mage.
A member of the Sculptor, and Etar’s fellow disciple who once learned magic together under a master named Arkis Aimer.
True to being an Earth Elementalist, Ramus Tresha spoke bluntly.
His expressions rarely showed, and his words and actions were always stiff enough to feel suffocating.
If anything, that was a defining trait of the Ramus Family.
But today, perhaps because Tresha had been waiting for his visit, this was fairly warm by his standards.
“So what brings you here?”
“First of all, won’t you at least offer some tea? You’re always like this, but your way of treating guests is quite stiff. At least do it for form’s sake.”
“My personality doesn’t allow for that.”
He said that, but Tresha immediately began brewing tea.
The scent of tea blooming inside the cave.
A scent familiar to Etar, yet one that made his chest ache.
“……Why does it have to be that tea? It brings back old memories.”’