第１１４７堀：そろそろ限界 (Part1)
Chapter 1147: Reaching the Limit
Side: Yuki
“...I’m sleepy.”
“Master. Why don’t you take a break? You shouldn’t push yourself.”
Kirika expressed her concern, but I couldn’t afford that luxury.
After all, I had to check on the state of the makeshift classroom we’d prepared at breakneck speed yesterday.
“I’ll sleep once we’re past noon. I need to make sure the classroom I set up for Hivia is in order. Plus, I need to see if she can actually spend time in there properly.”
Last night, we succeeded in securing Hivia, who had become a ghost. To extract information from her, we decided that the best approach was to provide her with a space that could pass for a "daily life," so we had scrambled to prepare a classroom for that purpose.
I’d returned home briefly to eat and bathe, but the work had turned into an all-nighter. Not having slept at all was starting to take a heavy toll.
Man, am I finally showing my age?
“Actually, isn’t that situation a bit worrying? I mean, she’s the only student in the classroom. Wouldn’t anyone normally be suspicious of that?”
“You’re right. Unless you’re a real troublemaker, you wouldn’t end up in a situation like that. I wonder how Principal Popuri and the others explained it? Are you listening, Sota-dono?”
“Ah, about that. It seems her history as a problem child worked in our favor.”
“““?”””
As we tilted our heads in confusion, Sota-san replied with a wry smile.
“The one-on-one lessons between her, Principal Popuri, and Lara-dono—it seems they’ve done that several times in the past. What you’d call private tutoring in a disciplinary room. Perhaps because of that, she seems to have accepted it as a matter of course, without feeling anything was amiss.”
“Ah...”
“That girl has nerves of steel.”
“Hmm. Being given private instruction by a teacher is supposed to be a disgrace, but I suppose a girl of that type wouldn’t care.”
Well, I guess that’s just a difference in sensibilities.
It’s like how a delinquent doesn’t care about being scolded by a teacher; perhaps a "mad student" simply can’t grasp the reason why she’s being scolded in the first place.
That’s exactly why she accepts it as just another day.
While listening to this background, I turned my gaze toward the monitor...
“...And so, in other words,”
“Mhm, mhm.”
Hivia was reflected on the screen, taking the lesson as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
However, Kagura was not by her side right now.
The reason for that was...
“When is it Kagura and the others’ turn?”
“Let’s see. Judging by her current state, her mental condition is stable, so she should be fine for a while. We’ll observe her, and if she starts to show signs of instability, we plan to have them enter the classroom as fellow students.”
“I see.”
So, the plan isn’t just to use them as spiritual anchors, but to insert fellow "students" to ensure Hivia’s mental stability.
Still, it’s not just Kagura...
“Are Mikos and the others going too?”
“Yes. Since everyone can see her now, I’m hoping we can make good use of that to lighten the burden on Kagura-san.”
I can understand the logic of not wanting to put the entire burden on Kagura alone, but in the end, they’re all my wives.
It’s not just me being overprotective; it’s only natural to feel anxious.
After all, "Hivia and a ghost" sounds like a recipe for nothing but trouble.
As I was fretting over this, Taiki-kun raised the obvious question.
“But we can’t keep this up forever, can we? At what point are we going to ask about Hivia’s situation?”
“Popuri-dono did say she would ask herself once she’d assessed the situation. It must be painful to ask one’s own student how and when they died, though. Still, I suppose she feels it’s something she must do herself.”
I understand what Taizou-san is saying.
Popuri likely feels it’s a duty she must fulfill as the principal.
“I understand the sentiment. However, time is finite. We have to draw a line somewhere.”
Exactly. We don’t have an infinite amount of time.
Once things at the Lancer Magic Academy are settled, the next job will be waiting for us.
We can’t spend forever looking after Hivia here.
“That’s true. But there’s no point in rushing for an answer right now. We should set a firm deadline and convey it to Popuri-dono. Besides, if I were to say I’m going to stay here and collect data on Hivia forever, Hifi-san would definitely be furious.”
Well, that goes without saying.
No matter how much of a ghost she is, investigating a girl’s ecology is, by any standard, the behavior of a stalker or a pervert.
But regarding the deadline...
“A deadline, you say? In that case, as originally planned, the deadline will be when Wazfi returns from her training in Weed. After all, the main objective is the investigation of the Great Tree Sea, and we were planning to explore the place where Hivia died as a side task.”
“Well, that seems reasonable. I never expected we’d be able to capture a ghost so easily in the first place.”
“Indeed. I originally thought it would be good if we could gather even a little information on the ghost by the time the Great Tree Sea investigation was finished.”
“It really was unexpected.”
Truly.
Usually, you wouldn’t dream of capturing a ghost on the third day of an investigation.
If this were Earth, the internet and television would be in an uproar right now.
“Well, that’s up to Popuri, and we’ll just proceed with our preparations at our own pace.”
“True. For us, we were just killing time until Wazfi returned, and now we have the perfect new project.”
For Comet and Agil, some interesting research material had appeared to help pass the time.
As long as they didn’t neglect the preparations for the Great Tree Sea, I had no complaints.
After all, if those two kept a close watch, it would help ensure the safety of Kagura and the others.
“So, how is Wazfi doing with her training? Depending on how she turns out, the investigation into the Great Tree Sea might be moved up or delayed, right?”
“For now, it’s scheduled for a month. Since she’s undergoing forced leveling and her strength will increase dramatically, she’ll probably only be able to learn the basics of how to use it. For now, the goal is to ensure she can keep up with the Great Tree Sea run, as originally intended.”
That’s right. To gain the power to run through the Great Tree Sea, Wazfi is currently in Weed, undergoing Deryu’s rigorous special training.
She probably never imagined that we would have captured the ghost so quickly.
“Well, considering the timeframe, that’s about right. It’s already strange for levels to rise in just a month, but for them to skyrocket to that degree is abnormal. Just adapting to such changes is surprisingly difficult.”