novelraw Chapter 131 : Chapter 131
Chapter 131 : Chapter 131
131
Her vision returned.
Rozalin thought she was dreaming.
It was because the scenery spread out before her was the same one she had seen to the point of boredom just a week ago.
'Is it the Academy again?'
The place she was standing was the hallway of the Imperial Royal Academy.
Why was I here again?
That question lingered for only a moment, as she soon recalled the purpose of why she was standing here.
"Teacher!"
She had visited this place to rescue Cassian.
Having recalled the entire context, Rozalin shuddered once.
That damned mage had shoved her in here right away without any explanation.
'Ugh, let's get out of here quickly.'
She did not know what kind of tricks might be at play.
For instance, leaving her behind in Cassian's mind after waking him up.
Those who dealt with souls had always been shady since ancient times.
She needed to finish this quickly and escape this place.
'Once Teacher Cassian wakes up, we just have to wait for Yuria to regain her senses.'
Rozalin moved here and there thinking that.
Perhaps because she was in a spirit state, the surrounding environment changed rapidly with every step she took.
'There is no one here.'
Was it because this space was recreated from memory?
There was not a single person in the Academy building.
That meant she simply had to find the only place in this world emitting signs of human presence.
Rozalin increased her speed and scoured every corner of the building.
As a result, she was able to catch a noise coming faintly from far away.
"...!"
"... ... ......?!"
"... ...!"
Several voices mingled together, making it seem like a fight had broken out.
The moment Rozalin hurriedly moved her steps and arrived there.
"Dog of evil! Take this!"
Cassian, who looked about two years older than when she had last seen him, was holding a liquor bottle upside down and smashing it over the back of the head of an old gentleman who appeared to be in his fifties.
CLANG!
"Ugh?!"
The old gentleman collapsed to the floor just like that.
The liquor bottle shattered with a CRUNCH, scattering on the floor, and a red liquid, which could have been alcohol or blood, wetted the ground.
There were quite a few other students around, and they scattered with expressions that made it impossible to tell if they were dumbfounded, terrified, or both.
They shouted, called for priests, and called for pharmacists.
Through that entire process, Cassian (young, appeared rude, seemed insane) stood with his arms crossed, calmly looking down at what he had done.
'Is he crazy?'
It was enough to make Rozalin think that.
'But he also looks kind of cool... I've never seen my teacher have this much charisma.'
Though this thought seemed insane itself.
Soon, people came to support the old gentleman and disappeared.
Aging professors and instructors spoke to Cassian, expressing their anger.
Cassian only stared at them intently and did not say much.
His mouth remained stubbornly shut, looking as if he had no intention of explaining the truth of the incident.
And as expected, Cassian did not say a word to the flocking people and went straight into the dormitory.
Rozalin followed behind him.
The moment she tried to pass through Cassian's dormitory.
'Huh.'
Rozalin's body was blocked at the dormitory entrance.
No, it was not just blocked.
With a TAP sound, her existence was bounced back into the realm of physical order.
Before she could even figure out what this was, the door opened from the inside.
It was just as Rozalin was wondering what to do.
"...Huh? Aren't you that older sister from back then?"
Older sister, older sister, older sister, older sister older sister older sister older sister...
Rozalin's eyes flashed at the voice ringing in her ears.
"Uh, hello?"
Her earlobes turned a little red.
The title of 'older sister' was too destructive.
Rozalin tried hard to keep suppressing the corners of her mouth that kept rising.
"What brings you here? Aren't you not a student of our school?"
Cassian looked at Rozalin with wary eyes.
Unlike his current benevolent and good impression, the present Cassian had a face close to Bridget's, sharp and prickly about everything.
Rozalin cleared her throat with a AHEM before speaking.
"I visited because of the Academic Exchange Conference."
"What, those high and mighty people are non-violently exploiting the subjects of non-Empire nations to satisfy their self-consciousness again. Such base pigs."
"......"
It seemed that even though he had aged a few years, her teacher's dark history was not over yet.
The vocabulary he used was beyond difficult for his age, bordering on archaic, and his attitude seemed even more arrogant than his vocabulary.
However, Rozalin did not point out Cassian's self-consciousness.
"Do not suffer or be discouraged too much. This is the Empire, after all. Defeat is natural. And since there are many who are ashamed of such pettiness of the Empire, the world will change."
At least Cassian's core seemed solid.
"Dirty Imperial bastards."
Cassian was truly indignant about this situation right now.
The top entrant of the Imperial Royal Academy.
It was rare for such a person to express anger towards the Imperial Family like this.
In fact, the Empire showed various disgraceful behaviors at this Academic Exchange Conference.
As a result, there were students who expressed disappointment and even hostility towards the Academy, but those emotions were not directed at the Empire.
To them, the Empire was the world itself, as well as law, order, ethics, and faith.
"Why do you hate the Empire?"
So Rozalin had no choice but to ask.
Cassian answered nonchalantly.
"Isn't it strange to like the Empire?"
"Then what do you want to do?"
"I will change it."
An immediate answer came out as if there was no need to think.
No, this did not seem like there was no need to think, but rather the result of countless deliberations in his daily life.
Intrigued, Rozalin continued to ask questions.
"The Empire thinks they are modern and all other worlds are barbaric. They claim that since other worlds remain in the medieval era, they must occupy, educate, and change them."
"Is that not true?"
"The Empire is merely a group of people with power. That is all they are, yet their actions are too presumptuous."
"Then how will you change it?"
"I have a plan, but why should I tell you that?"
Honestly, you were just about to tell me.
That thought briefly crossed her mind, but she swallowed it along with an AHEM.
She did not want to be hated by the still-young Cassian for no reason.
Instead, she recalled her purpose.
She had entered this place to restore Cassian's consciousness.
And while she was at it, it would be good if she could restore Cassian's collapsed Mana Road like last time.
"I've seen many kids like you. Their dreams are grand, but they end up not finding a way to achieve them."
"Ha."
Cassian scoffed as if he could not tolerate such an insult.
"You mean you have seen many clumsy fools. However, I am different from those guys."
"What is different?"
"Ability."
"Being good at studying?"
Since he was the top student, he must be good at it.
It was a question asked with that thought in mind.
"No. My ability is not studying. My ability lies in making them seek me."
It was a completely different perspective.
"Making them seek you?"
"I will make the Empire seek me on its own. Studying is merely a means to achieve that."
Having said that, Cassian began to slowly unravel his plan.
First, graduate as the top student here.
Then, go to a famous duchy that could protect him and devise a strategy to normalize this rotten Empire.
To do that, it was advantageous to go to the frontier of the Empire, especially a border region with an army that could be operated autonomously.
There, he would implement an integrated policy to merge the barbarian tribes and grow his power.
Listening to him unravel various other things little by little, Rozalin felt a slight chill.
'...This is a coup plot, isn't it?'
It was a plan of a scale that made no sense to think was planned by a mere 15 or 16-year-old student.
It was more fitting to think that someone who had seen the end of the world for about 10 years and returned, like herself, had planned a revolution to overhaul the Empire.
He did this just because he hated being looked down on as an illegitimate child?
'Then the Duchy of Crownhardt searching for Teacher isn't just because he stopped his commission.'
A person with such plans was commissioned by the duchy immediately after graduation.
What if it was a companionship that shared dreams and goals beforehand?
That meant the Duchy of Crownhardt was aiming a dagger at the heart of the Imperial Royal Family right now.
Also, if that were the situation, the Duchy of Crownhardt would absolutely never give up on Cassian.
Imperial descendants, the Imperial Family? It would be the same no matter who came.
Then, Rozalin suddenly thought of a hypothesis.
"How far have you seen?"
When she entered this world of mental imagery last time, Cassian had also spoken in a way that seemed as if he were reading the future.
What if that was not a kind of intuition but an ability close to prophecy?
In other words, a kind of Gift...
"...About 20 years? Rather than seeing it, isn't it just obvious that it will turn out that way? Hmm. If they struggle and hold on, maybe it will be maintained for about 40 years."
Certainty could be glimpsed in Cassian's answer.
It was content that could not be spoken of merely in the realm of intuition.
So Rozalin became curious.
"What if. What if everything you have is thwarted for a very trivial reason? I mean, not because of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau, Academy people, or nobles, but if you fail because you become crippled for a truly insignificant reason, how would you feel?"
At Rozalin's question, Cassian looked at her as if asking why she was asking such a thing.
Then, seeing that Rozalin's expression was very serious, he fell into deep thought.
"Then would there be any reason to live any longer? It would mean my entire life has become useless."
Why did a person who spoke like this change?
What did Captain Perdius, whom he met with the robbers and stayed with for a month, say to him?
At that moment, Rozalin felt her body flash once and churn.
She knew instinctively.
It seemed the necromancy magic was coming to an end.
"Cassian."
"Did I ever tell you my name?"
"You can change the world. But you cannot change it with only one method. Above all, you are standing at the crossroads of changing the world right now. I need you."
"Me?"
"Do not forget who you are. Remember who needs you. You said you would make yourself useful. We, no, I need you."
The moment she finished speaking, her peripheral vision went black again.
It was like this when she entered, too.
Rozalin mouthed a curse word thinly.
Of course, the sound did not come out of her mouth in the end.
* * *
Rozalin held her head and drove away the myriad of sensations.
She felt nauseous, as if her body had been shaken uncontrollably several meters in the air.
"I'm dying..."
Barely swallowing the bile rising up, she opened her eyes to see Berlis looking at her with a serious expression, arms crossed.
"Huh?"
"Is Teacher Cassian's past a bit special~? Why can't I see it?"
"You can't see it?"
"Normally, when using this kind of spell, I should be able to peek into the caster's memories... This is strange~. There is a gaze watching me, as if monitoring me alongside."
It was a strange story.
"So, is Teacher waking up or not?"
"Don't worry. I confirmed that the soul merged with the body at the end, anyway~. He will probably wake up soon?"
"When is that?"
"3."
"3 days?"
"2."