第１１３８堀：準備は出来て余裕がある (Part1)
Chapter 1138: Prepared and at Ease
Side: Popuri
Hmm, I can’t remember.
I really can’t remember.
But does that mean I actually *know* something?
The more I think about it, the more it slips through my fingers, for some reason.
If I could just convince myself that I don’t know, it would be so much easier, but these nonsensical thoughts keep circling, spinning round and round in my head, never finding an exit.
And yet, I couldn’t bring myself to say I didn’t know.
That silhouette, the school uniform, the silver hair.
Or perhaps I’m just confusing it with some other memory?
Ah, I can’t get my thoughts in order.
After all, that uniform is from two hundred years ago.
A student wearing such a thing...
They don’t exist anymore.
More importantly, the girl herself didn’t appear on the camera.
Which means she’s a ghost—someone who died long ago.
There’s nothing left for me to do now.
Student deaths have happened, both now and in the past.
This academy was built on the edge of the Great Tree Sea, a place crawling with monsters. We’ve been fighting them since the beginning, and we even have the students fight as part of their experience.
Of course, we are careful, but inevitably, every few years, a student passes away due to an unforeseen accident.
Well, it was much worse in the past; compared to those days, the casualties now are practically negligible.
But Yuki-dono wouldn’t look kindly on that way of thinking. He’s the type who believes one should never get used to the death of a person.
Yes, I have grown used to students dying.
Although it has subsided thanks to Yuki-dono, this continent was plagued by endless wars for years.
So, just because they managed to leave the academy safely...
Hm? Wait, something just snagged in my mind.
It was worse in the past? Many people, many academy students died?
Huh, what was that about?
*“...please. Headmaster... please...”*
Ah, can I hear a voice? A voice that makes me recall the past...
“Headmaster. Please wake up! Headmaster, wake up!”
“Feh?”
I managed to pry open my eyelids, which were clinging together, and found Rara peering down at me.
“You’ve finally woken up. We won’t make it to the meeting time if we don’t leave now.”
“...Meeting, time?”
Ah, my head is so fuzzy; I can’t gather my thoughts.
But at the word “time,” I instinctively looked at the clock. It was 10:50 PM.
“What’s wrong? Isn’t this the time I should be going to sleep?”
“You are completely groggy. We are continuing the ghost investigation from yesterday.”
“Ah!?”
That was it. The mention of the ghost brought it all back, and I scrambled to sit up in bed.
“The appointment was for 23:00, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. Please hurry and get dressed. Fortunately, you were taking a nap in your everyday clothes, so there’s no need to change.”
“Haah, it’s ironic that my ‘nap mode’ actually came in handy. Or rather, I must have been more tired than I thought.”
“Indeed. Usually, you wouldn’t be this dazed so close to the deadline, Headmaster.”
I climbed out of bed and, with Rara’s help, tidied myself up.
“Right. Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
As Rara and I stepped out of the office, the sun had long since set, leaving only the dim, gloomy corridor illuminated by the faint light of my own magic.
“I wonder if I should ask Yuki-dono and his people to install electric lights in the hallways soon?”
“It’s not impossible, but wouldn’t that invite criticism from the anti-magic factions?”
“If I worried about such foolishness over a single light, there would be no end to it. Above all, here on the If Continent, magic was never a convenient tool for daily life; it was a power to defeat enemies. Its reputation in that regard is what matters.”
“That is true, but... well, I think that is a conversation you should have with Yuki-sama.”
“We’ve already ‘co-developed’ things like video cameras, so I’d like to avoid mass-producing anything else.”
“Those are strictly for the upper echelons of each nation. If we can provide something useful to the public, the voices claiming the academy is unnecessary might diminish.”
As we walked, discussing the future steering of the academy right after waking up, we arrived at the surveillance room in no time. We entered without hesitation, only to find everyone already gathered, looking our way...
“Yo, Popuri. Are you tired today?”
“Yes. I seem to be more exhausted than I realized, and I arrived right at the promised time. My apologies to everyone.”
I offered my apologies.
Even though they had gathered specifically for my sake, I was the last one here—which is bad in more ways than one.
If there were any hostile nobles here, they would have seized the chance to berate me.
But fortunately, the people here have no interest in such authority or power; in a sense, they are all family.
“Don’t worry about it. We’re keeping time, aren’t we?”
“Indeed. Besides, the real event is probably two hours away. Now then, I’m setting the traps.”
“Okay. I’ll be the decoy. Everyone, stand back.”
“Yeah. Comet-dono is impressive as always. Well, everyone is in the middle of a game like this, so it’s not a problem.”
Yes, everyone really doesn’t mind at all, but...
“Master. Could you at least look at me when you speak?”
“Eh? There’s no reason to go out of my way to do that when there’s no problem. Besides, I’m busy with the loot, so we’ll talk later.”
For some reason, the person who should be most related to me in this group—my master—was completely focused on the game and had no interest in me whatsoever.
No, in a way, I suppose it’s proof of her trust in me... but still, it stings a little.
“Come now, we’ve prepared tea, so please, have a seat.”
“Indeed. There are sweets, too.”
The Souta couple offered me gentle, warm words despite my loneliness.
“Thank you. But are you two really alright being out at this hour?”
The Souta couple are liches, but they appear as elderly people.
I heard their actual age isn’t much different from mine, but when one looks elderly, fatigue inevitably follows.
As they say, illness comes from the mind.
“Ahaha, thank you for your concern. But we are fine. Believe it or not, since coming to Weed, we’ve often stayed up quite late.”
“That’s right. At this age, this old man has been binge-reading manga I could never read before. And developing strange techniques on the side, too.”
“Enoru, that can’t be helped. Besides, coming to a world with magic and not trying to recreate manga techniques is unthinkable, isn’t it? Right, Yuki-kun, Taiki-kun?”
“I agree. Even if people call it ‘chuunibyou,’ you just have to do it.”
“Hahaha, actually, I did that at this academy too. Come to think of it, I haven’t developed any techniques like that lately. Is there anything interesting?”
...It’s starting to feel like the usual dinner parties at Yuki-dono’s house.
Yes, it’s so normal that it’s comforting.
And so, I drank the tea Souta-san brewed and ate the sweets.
“Phew... I feel alive again.”