DMHS 89
“Do you know the kids in the club?”
“No, I don’t. I only heard about it in passing. Even if there are urban legends going around, it’s kind of ridiculous to form a club to investigate them. They’re just kids, probably excited and jumping in.”
“What are the urban legends about?”
“There are tons of them. So many are similar it’s confusing, but they’re generally like this: Don’t make eye contact with the black cat. Don’t look into the mirror in the dormitory’s shared bathroom at midnight. Don’t read the thirteenth book on the thirteenth shelf in the library.”
“Is there anything else you remember?”
“Ah, there’s also ‘Don’t stay in the lounge until the bell rings five times.’ That’s why everyone went outside when the bell rang earlier. Though the bell that signals the time only ever rings three times anyway.”
No sooner had Mila finished speaking than the bell tolled.
Ding, ding, ding.
And then…
Ding.
One final toll was added.
Mila’s face turned ashen white.
“…Should we leave now too?”
“Alright.”
Kian left the lounge with Mila. They parted ways in front of the dormitory.
“When you have time, could you compile the urban legends circulating around the Academy? Information about the Society of Silence would be great too.”
“Of course! I’ll investigate harder than I do my homework. See you tomorrow at the same time in the lounge. …Sir Kian.”
Mila smiled brightly as she said Kian’s name. Then she slipped into the girls’ dormitory.
Kian touched the back of his neck and spoke.
“But it seems we found a clue, right?”
“……”
“Lucien?”
Lucien, who had been staring at the spot where Mila had disappeared, reacted belatedly.
“What did you just say?”
“That we seem to have found a clue to investigate the case.”
“Right.”
That was all Lucien had to say.
‘Is he tired?’
Kian glanced at Lucien and entered the dormitory building. He knocked on the door of the room next to theirs, and it opened from the inside.
“Did you have a good meeting?”
It was the princess who greeted them. Behind her, looking as cheerful as ever, was Frederick, wearing his usual long face.
Kian took a seat on the sofa attached to the table.
“It seems there’s a ghost story circulating around the Academy. Students from the Administrative Departement formed a research club to investigate it. I don’t know if those students are the ones we’re looking for, but it seems worth looking into.”
The princess clapped her hands and chimed in.
“Ghost stories, huh? I heard some today too! There were so many interesting ones!”
Her sparkling eyes looked suspicious. Kian stopped her.
“You’re not planning to go out tonight to check on those ghost stories, are you?”
“Why not?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Heeeen. But they say the talking cat is real. Someone saw it on the north stairs!”
Kian recalled what Mila had said.
“Is this talking cat a black cat?”
“Yes. They say if you make eye contact, the black cat speaks to you. It feels like words flow into your head, it’s incredibly strange. I want to experience the cat too.”
Kian’s movement froze abruptly.
‘Words flowing into your mind?’
That wasn’t how it worked in ghost stories. It was magic.
‘First, I need to find that black cat.’
Having decided what to do first tomorrow, Kian admonished the princess.
“It would be best if you stopped paying attention to ghost stories. What do you think would happen if Your Highness got involved in something unsavory?”
“……I’d be dragged back to the palace.”
“And then?”
“I’d have to wake up to the nanny’s nagging in the morning and go to bed at night. I wouldn’t be able to step outside the palace for three months.”
“You know that well. I believe Your Highness will make a wise choice.”
“Eeeeeek…!”
The princess gnashed her teeth and stamped her feet. Still unable to shake her frustration, she rolled around on the bed.
But Kian wasn’t surprised. When things didn’t go her way, the princess often flew into a rage. Sadly, the world rarely danced to her tune.
Whenever this happened, Kian had a saying.
“Enjoy the present, Your Highness. “
It was advice to relish this moment when she could vent her temper freely. The princess complied with those words.
”Yes… I love this moment so very much. Just being able to breathe freely in the Academy dormitory makes me happy.”
The princess beamed as if she had never been angry.
Kian brushed his arms, where goosebumps were rising.
‘Seeing her like this, she really is just like Eddie.’
He was almost worried she might go out and bring back a horde of suspicious monsters.
Of course, the princess’s target for unleashing a monster horde wouldn’t be Kian, so it didn’t matter.
‘The current king will handle it.’
Kian dismissed it with a vague glance and addressed Frederick.
“How was your day, Sir?”
Frederick gave a dry laugh.
“The collapse of Barbarthal has arrived. I don’t know how many times I said ‘Barbarnossputkraknakar’ today.”
“Even amidst this chaos, your pronunciation remains precise. You truly are Sir.”
A simple compliment lifted the corners of Frederick’s mouth.
“Thanks to that, even Ignis couldn’t recognize me. It was a good idea, Lord Kian.”
It was Kian who had chosen Frederick’s name. There were his own reasons for it.
Frederick was a graduate of the Academy. Even if his face could be altered by magic, the aura of mana he possessed could not be changed.
The problem was that the elementals teaching students at the Academy distinguished humans not by appearance, but by their mana.
Kian devised a long name as a method to deceive the elementals’ eyes.
Elementals were beings that arose spontaneously from nature and objects. However, for an elemental to be born, naming was necessary. Meaning was only created when someone called fire ‘fire’ and water ‘water’.
As a result, elementals were sensitive to names. The strategy to confuse their minds with an excessively long name and escape their attention succeeded.
“Just get through tomorrow and it’s the weekend. On weekends, an event that gives us a breather from academy life takes place. The Magic Market, that is.”
“Sir Frederick doesn’t seem to like the Academy much.”
“Where in the world is there a human who likes their alma mater?”
“Sir Daisy seemed to have many happy memories, though.”
“That’s because she’s a knight. Among the delicate mages, none enjoy this sort of group life. My brother was the same.”
Kian focused on the first mention of family from Frederick’s mouth.
“You have an older brother?”
Frederick seemed flustered after uttering the words himself.
“Ah, well, yes… We weren’t particularly close.”
“I suppose he’s a mage too.”
“Correct. He currently assists our father at the Third Tower. Unlike me… No, objectively speaking, he’s a skilled battle mage. If nothing unexpected happens, he’ll succeed Father as the Tower Master.“
‘His brother will become the Tower Master?’
Frederick always boasted about Erlesia, the Third Tower Master, and displayed his pride in the family. Kian had assumed he naturally aimed for the Tower Master position himself.
”But is that okay? Didn’t you also want to become the Tower Master, Sir Frederick?”
“It would be a lie to say I don’t covet it. But Father will never pass the position to me. I doubt I’ll ever earn his approval.”
Frederick lowered his eyes and smiled sadly.
Kian had seen this expression on Frederick before. It was when he confessed to the princess about his past reluctance to become a battle mage.
The true face of the mage, hidden beneath his arrogance, stirred something in Kian. Knowing it was none of his business, Kian brought up the topic.
“If you don’t receive your father’s approval, does that mean you can’t become the Tower Master?”
“Because my father is currently the greatest battle mage. Unless I surpass the current Tower Master, I cannot become the next one.”
“But the Third Tower doesn’t necessarily have to produce a battle mage, does it?”
“There’s no rule saying it must. But it’s been done that way for so long…”
“It hasn’t been that long that you need to mention ‘so long’. It’s only been done since the tower before last, so barely a hundred years at most. The Third Tower was established a thousand years ago, so a hundred years is a short time within that. In fact, the period focusing on magical artifacts was likely longer.“
Frederick reacted to the words ”magical artifacts.“
”This is news to me. Was there a time when the Third Tower researched magical artifacts?“
”Of course. Originally, the Third Magic Tower was where magical artifacts were developed. The First and Second Towers divided the four elements for their research. The First Tower got greedy and took all four elements, leaving the Second Tower with nothing to do, so they snatched the magic tools.“
”Then battle magic…“
”It was born from the ingenuity of the generation before last. That’s why its history isn’t long, and battle mages aren’t easy to come by.”
That was also why Kian challenged Frederick to a duel. If battle mages were common, he would have had the chance to face one long ago.
“So if there’s something you want to do, don’t give up. Nothing in this world is predetermined. History and tradition are ultimately created by the people living in each present moment.”
“……”
“If my words were presumptuous, I apologize.”
“Ah, it’s not that I couldn’t answer. I just suddenly had a lot on my mind… I understand what you meant. Thank you for your advice.”
“It’s nothing special. It’s easy to speak when it’s not your own business.”
“No. I know you thought about it more seriously precisely because it was my business.”
Frederick raised his head and smiled.
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