novelraw Chapter 132 : Chapter 132
Chapter 132 : Chapter 132
132
It felt like I had dreamed an old dream.
The distinctive sensations shown by the scenery of my Academy days remained like an afterimage.
It seemed to be the influence of having been to the Academic Exchange Conference.
It felt like childhood memories were surfacing now that I had some breathing room after returning to the school.
'Returned? Breathing room?'
Suddenly, the elements I used to analyze the current situation felt unfamiliar.
Right, I had returned to Akarind Academy.
And I organized schedules with people, handled everything that happened...
A demon appeared at night.
"Ah!"
The sensation that had been dazed as if submerged in water suddenly awakened.
Startled, I looked around and saw the bed in the infirmary.
"Where is the demon?"
"Of course, I, smashed it to pieces, Teacher!"
THUD, a sense of weight was felt.
Because Rozalin practically tackled me, almost charging into my chest.
COUGH, I almost fell backward with the sound.
"Are you okay? You're not hurt anywhere, right?"
I felt like I had just come back to life only to almost die again.
"Uh, uh, did you kill the demon?"
"Thanks to Teacher taking care of everything, it wasn't difficult! How can a person be so reckless!?"
"No, it just... appeared here. So I fought. Because the students were in danger..."
"If Teacher gets hurt, it's not just the students but humanity that is in danger!"
I smiled bitterly and did not reply.
Regressors like Rozalin could say things like that.
But I couldn't just blindly run away when students were in danger.
As if knowing my heart, Rozalin let out a deep sigh and stepped back.
However, for someone sighing, a faint playfulness hung on her smile.
It wasn't the expression of someone trying to play a prank on me directly.
Rather, it was closer to the expression of someone who had a lot to say, like 'just you wait and see'.
Is there something I'm missing?
"There are people waiting eagerly just for you to wake up, Teacher."
"Eagerly, what?"
"I yield my turn to those who have much to say and withdraw!"
Rozalin waved her hand as if wishing me luck and slipped away.
It was a clean exit for someone who had just staged a short emotional scene.
"Awake?"
"...Ulf?"
However, I had no time to worry about Rozalin.
Because the appearance of Ulf before my eyes was quite shocking.
Considering the voice, tone, and various other things, the person in front of me was definitely Ulf.
Just one thing.
Ulf looked too old, excessively so.
No, Ulf is definitely an old person.
But seeing her aged like this feels very unfamiliar.
She chuckled with a clucking sound as if she understood looking at me.
"That thief girl was right. Too much has changed since the appearance of the third demon. There are many people waiting for you, so I'll be brief."
"What on earth was the third demon? Originally, there was no talk of a demon this strong."
"It's a guy called the Grand General. One of the guys who rule over demons and command them."
"Grand General..."
The position Rozalin reached before her regression was that very Grand General.
"Humanity's possibility of survival was divided by his appearance. People who saw hope until then despaired just because of that one guy."
"Such a guy..."
"It seems the Teacher of the past, I mean from a different timeline, was also amazing. Still, 10 years. It's all thanks to you, Teacher, that we bought time for Pan's enlightenment and for humans to obtain information about demons."
Ulf slowly raised her body.
Then, leaning on her staff, she bowed her head deeply.
"I don't know if I did such a great thing. That wasn't done by the me of this world either..."
"The you of this world did something even bigger."
Ulf smiled brightly and lifted her head.
The wrinkles on her face deepened.
"Probably 10 years. Humanity won't see despair."
"...Demons keep coming down differently. Will there be an impact?"
"Since humans have seen the future, there might be such existences among demons too. When we peek into their world, they also peek into ours."
Ulf concluded the story like that and rummaged in her bosom to take something out.
It was a flower.
"This is?"
"It's a flower that bloomed on my staff. It is also the essence of my magical power."
"Ulf?"
Looking to the side, Berlis stared at the flower with a completely shocked expression.
"Is it precious?"
"Of course! It probably takes 20 years just to make one of those?"
"...If taking this lowers Ulf's ability, I will refuse."
Ulf was a master who had to continue leading the fight against demons on behalf of humanity.
For such a person to give up part of her ability to hand it over to a defective product like me was unreasonable in many ways.
"It's good that you're not greedy. It's fine. It just allows you to use magic a bit more comfortably."
Looking at Berlis's expression, it doesn't seem to be just that level.
"Someday, if you get your own sword, place that flower on the blade. Then from that moment on, that sword will help you."
"I already have my own sword, though?"
"Oops. You didn't know yet. Your sword, it's broken."
Pardon?
Even though my salary is meager, I saved up some money to order that from a famous workshop in the Imperial Capital.
As I made a pitiful expression, Berlis giggled.
"Oh come on, Teacher. Getting upset over just a sword."
"Yes?"
"Do you know why you are lying here, Teacher?"
"Isn't it because my body is injured?"
If an injured person occurred at the Academy, they had to go to the infirmary.
Right now over there, Yuria lying down together with me must be for a similar reason.
However, Berlis smiled suspiciously and wagged her finger.
"The reason is, ta-da~."
She approached the window and pulled back the curtain sharply.
Beyond the large and wide window, ruins came into view.
"It's because our Academy has been turned into a wasteland and half-destroyed~!"
This is, the school?
Bright sunlight from the high and deep autumn sky leaked into the infirmary from outside the window.
Perhaps because of that, the scenery inside the school was visible all too well.
There was hardly any intact building within sight.
The buildings and pillars everywhere had been diced into cubes by the monster using its sharp claws in a grid pattern.
The ground was dug out with craters created here and there, and the few students were moving back and forth dodging their bodies here and there as if accustomed to such ruins.
"..."
My mouth opened and closed, but no voice came out.
It was that tremendous of a scene.
Although it wasn't my fault the Academy became like this, for some reason, a feeling of apology surged.
At that moment.
[Ah! Teacher!]
Students passing by beyond the glass window discovered me and shouted.
The gazes of students and the workers repairing the buildings gathered on me.
But those eyes were unusual.
How should I put it, it felt like everyone was waiting to catch me and pour something out all at once.
I think I know why Rozalin only expressed basic gladness and ran away immediately.
[Call Chairman Gwen!]
The students passing by became busy.
[Pan wanted to see him too! Contact Pan as well!]
[There were people from the Goldline Merchant Guild too, right?]
[Deliver the news to the Lord's Castle!]
Watching that scene, I quietly lay back down on the bed.
"When people come, could you please tell them I'm still mentally and physically feeble?"
"Think about it yourself. Do you think that will work?"
It didn't work.
* * *
The first to monopolize me was Gwen.
Having sent Berlis and Ulf outside, she unleashed a barrage of angry shouts.
"What on earth! What is this mess!"
"I have no face to see you..."
"No, I know this isn't your fault, Teacher?!"
"That is correct."
"But our Academy is, huh?! Smashed to pieces!"
"I am sorry..."
"I mean! I told you I know this isn't your fault? It's all the demon's fault!"
"That is correct."
"But, couldn't you have lured the demon and gone outside?! Huh?!"
"I have committed a mortal sin..."
After repeating such skit-like conversations a few times, it seemed her anger subsided.
In fact, Gwen never truly got angry at me while snapping at me.
Her voice was raised, but it was full of worry and concern.
"...Thank you."
It was natural.
"Thanks to you, Teacher, not a single student died."
Because Gwen was the person who cherished students the most among the instructors I knew.
"Not died, but were there any injured?"
"There were a few seriously injured. Though not to the extent of becoming disabled or anything... For now, Ulf and Instructor Berlis have treated them."
"It's not a complete treatment."
"It naturally falls short compared to holy power. That's why I'm hoping Student Yuria wakes up quickly..."
Her gaze lingered on Yuria.
Yuria was lying down, still unconscious.
A faint violet light hovered around the outline of her body.
Ulf said that was a kind of self-repair ability, and since priests loved by God constantly receive holy power, she would wake up soon if left alone.
"Well, she'll wake up soon. Since there are no students in critical condition right now, it will be fine. More importantly, did you hear the news?"
"The first person to come after I woke up was you, Chairman. There is no news to speak of."
"Then I'll have to tell you. There is a problem."
News I don't want to hear.
"Thanks to Abrahal's support funds, reconstructing the Academy itself doesn't seem difficult. The problem is regulation."
"Regulation?"
Regulation, it was an unfamiliar word.
It was because while Avril was overturning our Academy, the Lord didn't add a single word.
But suddenly regulation now.
Was he taking advantage of the Chairman changing to Gwen to add this and that, just like other countries interfering?
At my prediction, Gwen shook her head.
"I don't think it's that. Rather than that, how should I put it... It seemed related to you, Teacher Cassian."
"Me?"
"That's why I ran over as soon as you woke up. I think you need to go to the Lord's Castle."
Lord Murray Taylor.
A fallen knight who was eliminated from the Belmein Kingdom's knights and assigned here to the Akarind territory.
A man living soaked in alcohol, dying day by day without making any effort.
Why is such a person looking for me again?
"Understood."
I immediately finished getting ready and got up from my seat.
Then Gwen widened her eyes and stopped me.
"Teacher? You're going right away? It hasn't been long since you woke up. You'll hurt your body."
"No, I am fine."
Actually, my physical condition was better than expected.
To what extent? For some reason, my body itself felt more refreshed than before I fainted.
It felt similar to when I had four Mana Roads before going to the Imperial Royal Academy.
Above all.
"We need Academy buildings so students can attend classes and sleep, don't we? It's a space for students to live."
"Teacher...!"
"So, Chairman, please take care of the other people coming for me."
"...Yes?"
Far away, outside the window, I saw people swarming in.
I immediately kicked off the bed and ran.
"Teacher?!"