Chapter 94: Mistaken for a Suspicious Professor (1) |
*
Eri had failed the 3rd Round Written Exam.
The reason was that she had completely depleted her willpower during the 2nd Round.
"I'm sorry, Teacher..."
"There's no need to apologize. If anything, you must be the one who's hurting."
"Still, you and the Family Head both worried so much about me..."
"I really am fine, I keep telling you. Father... I'll have a word with him."
It wasn't as though she hadn't studied, or that she'd been lazy in her efforts.
Falling asleep during the 3rd Round Exam was... a bit of a problem, admittedly.
Still—she'd ranked 1st in the 2nd Round. Surely there was room to argue in her defense.
With that thought in mind, I passed the news along to my parents.
Their reaction, however, far exceeded anything I had anticipated.
"Well done, Erika."
"Pardon?"
My father, looking positively proud over the news that Erika had failed.
Both Erika and I found ourselves with question marks floating over our heads.
"I guess blood will be blood."
"Father. Erika isn't... well..."
She hasn't been adopted.
Of course, Fried knew Erika as his eldest nuna, and Freya followed her around as if she were practically a biological older sister—but still.
The Nihilrit Family had not yet formally adopted Erika.
Father seemed to catch himself, realizing this, and offered a correction.
"Ah, right. I'd forgotten."
"So what do you mean, 'well done'?"
"Oh, I had a similar experience to Erika's, back in my day."
"You did, Father?"
Father gave a nod.
"Yulian. How well do you understand fighting aura?"
"Not particularly well."
My area of expertise is magic and divine power.
Fighting aura offers no benefit whatsoever to medicine, so I'd never looked into it much.
About all I knew was that fighting aura is something close to internal energy.
"Then, Yulian—what does each of the other special abilities use as its resource?"
"Magic uses mana and knowledge, while divine power uses faith."
"And fighting aura?"
"Willpower, or so I've been told."
Fighting aura can be activated with nothing more than a strong will.
As a result, it's far easier to learn than other special abilities—which is why it became the ability of choice among adventurers and all manner of lower-class folk.
"Then did you know that the duration one can sustain fighting aura is extremely short compared to mana?"
"That I wasn't aware of."
I had a vague sense I'd heard something like that before.
But I'd only caught it in passing, so I didn't know any of the details.
"You wouldn't know the reason either, then."
"No."
"Then I'll explain from there. It varies by rank, but at Rank 1, the average is roughly ten minutes per day. So a fighting aura user must develop the skill of deploying it only at the precise moments it's needed."
Erika nodded along at my side.
Hearing that explanation, I finally understood the way she and Wangcho fought.
They'd been fighting as though blinking fighting aura on and off—and now I understood why.
"Unlike faith or mana, willpower gives you no way of knowing how much you have left—not even yourself. Some days, in a crisis, you might be able to sustain fighting aura far longer than usual. Other days, when you're in poor condition, you might burn out in less time than you'd expect. You can only develop a rough feel for it through long experience."
Even Father, who is 3rd Rank himself, said he can't gauge it precisely.
"The problem is this: when willpower is depleted, you have no choice but to fall asleep—just as Erika did."
"Is it fatigue?"
"It's a little different from fatigue. It's hard to put into words, but... it's something like having drained the will you needed for everything else. When the will to fight is spent, it starts pulling from your other reserves. And when even those are gone, you simply can't summon the intent to do anything at all."
I think I understand the feeling.
"So Erika's poor performance on the exam was because she drew on the will she needed for the test itself, during her fight with the supervisor?"
"Most likely."
Father nodded, looking satisfied.
"Students who can already use fighting aura before entering the Academy are few and far between. Among those who can, some exhaust it in the 2nd Round and end up unable to sit the 3rd Round properly. Just like me."
"You as well, Father?"
"I did the same. I pushed too hard during the sparring match because I wanted to beat the supervisor—and because of that, I slept very soundly in the 3rd Round examination hall."
Father turned to look at Erika.
"Don't worry too much. The Academy won't want to lose a talent like you either. Didn't the notification letter say you're exempt from next year's 2nd Round?"
"Yes. It did."
"Then this year's result carries over to next year. Just prepare for the 3rd Round. You may well take the top score."
As she listened, the shadow over Erika's expression began to lift.
"So... I...?"
"Yes. I'm proud of you. Doesn't that simply mean you're that gifted? This happens at the Academy once every five years or so—don't let it weigh on you. One year delayed in a whole lifetime is no setback at all."
Father picked up Erika's rejection notice and tossed it carelessly into the corner of his desk.
"Forget about this. Before you enroll, study for your exams, and every now and then, let's practice applying fighting aura together."
"Yes! Family Head!"
Father ruffled Erika's hair roughly.
She accepted it without a second thought, as though it were only natural.
A contented smile spread across Father's face.
"Freya will be pleased too—that she'll get to go alongside her sister."
I hadn't expected this.
He was a noble who fussed so much about marriageable age—and yet he was this easygoing about education.
Perhaps I'd been thinking too much like a 21st-century Korean.
When you actually thought about it, was retaking an exam such a big deal?
Being a year behind in a whole lifetime hardly meant the world was ending.
"Then, to celebrate Erika placing 1st in the sparring test, let's eat something delicious today."
As he said this, Father glanced at me.
Setting aside the head chef and asking me to cook instead, clearly.
It seemed my cooking had made quite an impression.
Then, just as he was about to leave it at that, Father seemed to remember something and called my name.
"Now that I think of it, Yulian—didn't you say your fiancée was entering the Academy this year?"
"Yes, that's right."
Shallot had applied to the Academy this year as well.
She originally had no intention of going—she'd said there was nothing for her to learn there.
But the moment she heard I was teaching a black magic course, she said she'd taken an interest.
She'd even applied to the Hero Department—despite having no intention of becoming a hero—just to attend my black magic course.
'The privileges of being from a marquis family, I suppose. Or maybe it simply doesn't matter what department she graduates from.'
Given her talent, I wasn't sure how much the department would even matter.
"4th in sparring, 8th in the written exam, apparently."
What surprised me was how well she'd done in sparring, and that she hadn't taken the top score in the written exam.
When I asked her why—
— "I learned some basic self-defense. That's what helped me place well in the sparring round."
— "And the written exam?"
— "I got a lot of the astronomy questions wrong. Problems about the positioning and cycles of stars and the sun. I thought—what would I ever use that for?"
— "..."
Well. That was why.
If anything, I supposed I should be impressed she still ranked 8th even after throwing away those questions.
"Well. That does sound like her."
Father nodded, with a slightly exasperated air.
Perhaps because he'd been seeking Shallot's consultation on unsolved cases so often—he seemed to have finally adapted to her personality.
"So next year, you'll be standing at the podium, and that girl will be sitting in your class."
"Only a few months left now."
Late autumn, at present.
Soon the heavy snow would come, and once the subjugation season was over, the Academy would start its new term.
I would be teaching the hero aspirants everything there was to know about black magic.
Less than six months away.
"Is everything in order before you leave?"
"Yes. I've made arrangements with the clinic in Limbus Pit and the trading company."
I'd spoken to Teacher as well.
He seemed more or less indifferent to the matter.
The whole of the Empire was his territory anyway—he'd said he could come see me whenever he pleased.
"Freya and Erika will miss you terribly."
"I'll come back on weekends."
There were airships for that.
Granted, airship tickets weren't cheap—but worrying about the cost felt rather pointless, given how comfortable my finances were.
And besides, I needed to come to the capital on weekends to keep up Director Schun's alibi.
Director Schun wouldn't appear at the Academy until two years from now, once the infirmary was completed.
Until then, I needed to make the trip to the capital every weekend.
"I'll miss your cooking."
"You'll be able to have it at least once a week."
"Once a week, no more."
Father looked at me with fond, almost wistful eyes.
"Yulian."
"Yes."
"Could you cook for us more often before you go?"
His way of saying he wanted to spend more time together as a family.
I agreed without hesitation.
"Of course. And we should have tea together more often, too."
"Thank you."
"Since we're on the subject—would it be all right if I stayed for a cup now?"
"Give me just a moment. I'll have this matter dealt with quickly."
Father caught Wilhelm's eye.
The head butler left the room with a word about preparing pumpkin tea.
That day.
I set my research aside for a time, and spoke with Father until the tea in our cups had gone cold.
***
After Erika's admissions result came in.
To spend even a little more time with my family before leaving, and to prepare for my departure from the capital—
I significantly scaled back Yulian's public activities.
"Draw it out and ignite it in a single motion."
"Like this?"
"Too precarious. If your opponent deliberately closes the distance, they'll reach you before the fighting aura even forms."
"Yes."
Erika trained under Father at the training ground, learning to use fighting aura.
Freya, too, joined Erika's training sessions from time to time to prepare for her own entrance exam.
Fallen leaves drifted down,
and the white natural disaster that visited the capital every year arrived right on schedule.
The snowstorm passed, and the year turned.
The new year's subjugation season took on a somewhat subdued character, owing to the variant demonic beasts that had appeared the year before.
And then the rivers thawed, the mud in the wagon wheel ruts dried, and communiqués announcing the end of the subjugation season scattered across the capital.
"Travel safely."
"Take care of yourself, my dear."
"Please come back soon, Older Brother."
"Teacher, stay in touch."
"I'll be off, everyone."
Without ever seeing the new shoots rise on the linden tree in the garden, I accepted the Nihilrit family's farewell and boarded an airship.
Before the airship lifted off.
I found my seat in first class alongside my elven escort, Perisia.
"There really was no need to arrange first class for me as well..."
"Your escort should be right beside me. What would you do if something came up—come running from economy class?"
"Inside an airship, that would be entirely possible..."
"Never mind that, please just make yourself comfortable."
"Even so, a whole month's salary of mine..."
"It's coming out of my own pocket, so don't worry about it."
I settled into my seat with Perisia, who kept fussing over the inconvenience, bickering back and forth.
Right next to my seat.
An earlier guest was reading a book opened across their lap.
"Shallot."
"You're here, Yulian?"
My fiancée closed the forensic medicine book I'd written for her, offering a soft smile.
She glanced at Perisia, who had taken an uncomfortable seat a little distance away.
"Your escort has changed."
"Didn't I mention Erika's situation to you?"
"I took that to mean you no longer had an escort."
"Does it bother you?"
Shallot's gaze lingered on Perisia for a moment.
"...No, it's fine."
Hmmm—!
At that moment the airship lifted off, and a faint pressure settled over the body.
Watching the scenery slowly rise below, Shallot spoke.
"Would you perhaps give me a quiz on the way?"
"Of course."
I'd put together a quiz for her the night before.
Based on patient case studies and my forensic medicine knowledge, with the clues arranged into something a little intricate.
When there was nothing else to do, Shallot and I would play like this.
I posed the questions; Shallot solved them.
"We'll roll dice for observation checks."
With a small twist, of course.
If I handed her all the clues outright, she'd have the answer in a matter of seconds.
So I incorporated observation checks with dice to manage what she could perceive.
A sort of TRPG, just between the two of us.
"Very well. Let's begin. This morning, you receive a summons. The setting: a small clock workshop tucked into an alley off Bergen Street, in the southeast of the Imperial Capital. The shop's name is Schwarz Clock Shop."
"A perfectly typical name for a dwarf's establishment."
"Slumped over a workbench, a man lies as though he fell asleep. He is not breathing. No obvious signs of trauma. Where do you examine?"
"There's a possibility of poisoning, so I'll smell him."
"Go ahead and roll."
Tap, tap, roll—
17.
"A scent of ripe apricots drifts from the body. Yet there are no apricots to be found anywhere."
"Is the smell coming from around his mouth?"
"No."
"Then ingestion is less likely..."
Shallot rolled the dice a few more times after that.
"I suspected poisoning because of the apricot smell, but it wasn't ingested. Could cyanide still be effective if someone were pricked with a clock hand?"
"No. Cyanide is only significantly effective when ingested—injection via a small stab wound is nearly useless. It might be a different story if the wound were the size of a syringe, but a clock hand simply can't deliver a lethal dose."
"Then could it be a poison I'm not familiar with?"
"Perhaps?"
Shallot fell into thought.
And then, quite suddenly, her face lit up.
"Nitrobenzene! It was a dye! Leatherworkers use it extensively, so the culprit must be a leatherworker or someone with access to that dye! Which means—the culprit is the victim's brother!"
"Correct, Shallot."
Well—that was how it usually went.
Since these weren't based on actual cases, there were occasional gaps in the middle—but still.
At this level, I could certainly say it served its purpose of keeping Shallot entertained.
And so we enjoyed our TRPG for the entire flight.
"...Yulian."
"Yes, Shallot?"
"Will you be giving problems like this during class time as well?"
"I've prepared even more interesting ones."
"I thought as much..."
Shallot smiled brightly.
"I'm glad I followed you here."
"Then I'll have to prepare an even wider variety of cases at the Academy, so as not to disappoint you."
I smiled back at her in return.
Clunk.
The seat in front of us shook slightly—Perisia's chair, it seemed.
I decided to chalk it up to sleep talking.
