Chapter 174: Mask Part 1

In the end, I returned to the Cradle without figuring out who the spy was.

Still, I do have someone suspicious in mind.

The merchant from Andvaranaut.

That bastard looked down on me, so this was a reasonable suspicion.

He was an outsider and rubbed me the wrong way, so I quietly told Cattleya to keep a close eye on him.

“Wow, look at that. My room’s back to normal. You completely trashed the place, didn’t you?”

“……”

“Answer me.”

“…Sorry.”

“As long as you know.”

Yuna had calmed down a bit.

Probably because we’ve made some progress in our own way. Thanks to that, life might be a little easier going forward.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any problems.

“Hmm…”

Every time I accidentally made eye contact with Yuna, things got awkward.

More specifically, she started blushing and looking away more often.

“Ahem! Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing the kids again after so long. Right?”

“You don’t even know half their names.”

And she still won’t tell me when I ask.

To be honest, the kids whose names I do know all have some kind of issue.

Raven, Ollie, and so on.

I guess it’s better than not knowing them at all, though.

Dragging my weary body that got exhausted from travel, I headed toward the classroom.

“Oh, Johan. Long time no see?”

“I heard you got caught up in another terrorist incident recently? You should really be more careful.”

“Where have you been all this time?”

As always, my classmates were consistently kind.

Seriously, what makes these people so good-natured?

“Oh, Johan. Hi.”

“Hello.”

Raven and Ollie were there too.

Their greetings were plain and simple.

“Feels like it’s been a while since I saw you.”

“That’s because it has been a while.”

“Uh…”

Why do they seem even less interested in me than the classmates whose names I don’t even know?

Have they been too busy dating each other to pay attention to anyone else?

“Ahem! So, I take it you don’t know there’s a test next week?”

“What, already? I don’t even remember learning anything.”

“Well, that’s because you’re always asleep in class…”

I guess that’s true.

Most of my time was either spent dozing off or getting caught up in all sorts of trouble, so maybe it’s only natural.

“So what’s going to be on the test?”

“Dueling, a written quiz, and exploration.”

“Exploration? What’s that?”

“They say we have to retrieve a target item from within a labyrinth the Headmistress created.”

“So it’s like a practical exercise.”

There was nothing particularly special about the content.

Well, it made sense since it was a midterm evaluation, not a final one.

It was simply a test meant to gauge the students’ overall ability levels.

In that case, there was no need to pay much attention to it. I just needed to do things as usual.

“Nothing happened while I was gone?”

“Yeah.”

“Why not?”

“Huh?”

Why was I the only one who had to suffer?

For the past year alone, this place had been in constant chaos from all kinds of terrorist attacks, and yet now it was peaceful. How unfair.

“Forget it, whatever.”

I decided to just think of it as Olga Hermod doing her job properly.

Since I would be staying at the Cradle from now on too, peace was something I should welcome.

***

I spent the morning classes asleep.

Even though there was a test next week, I was far too exhausted to do anything else.

It wasn’t as if I needed to concentrate on boring subjects like math or history.

Those were the kinds of things I could just study on my own later in the library.

Unless it was a subject where missing it right now would cause serious trouble, improving my quality of life was more important.

In any case, after letting most of the classes slip by, I headed to the alchemy workshop Ars Magna.

“Professor Georg, Senior Jabir. Are you here?”

I was planning to talk about the treatment for the Transcendence Syndrome.

Since the two of them had been helping me with my research, it would be best to let them know that I had already completed the medicine.

I also needed to tell them in advance why I had to stop the research. Otherwise, they might waste their time on pointless efforts.

Above all, their madness shouldn’t be taken lightly.

If I didn’t properly explain the dangers involved in making this medicine, they might try to complete it themselves later and cause a scene.

“Not here?”

Did they have something at an academic conference or something? I wasn’t sure.

Still, it felt strange. I thought I sensed someone… What was it?

Could someone else be here?

“Johan?”

“Oh, um…”

There really was someone.

A woman with a worn-out look stumbled out from the back.

Who was she again? I’d seen her last year. She was definitely an alchemy major…

“Monia.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Yeah.”

“You didn’t even care about me, did you?”

“……”

It was true, so I had nothing to say.

A year ago, I kept my distance from people by default.

Because I already knew the fate most of them would eventually meet.

If they were just nameless extras, I couldn’t tell when or how they might die. So I tried not to get attached.

And after the turbulent times passed, there were hardly any people left in the workshop.

Most had burned out and left.

That’s probably why Professor Georg was so desperate to turn the remaining students into graduate students.

Truly vicious.

It wasn’t just the undergraduate program. He had already been planning for what came after.

“Uh, what about Professor Georg?”

“He went to a conference with Senior Jabir.”

“Ah, I see.”

This was awkward. Especially because I had no idea why Monia had come back to the workshop.

That vacant look on her face… Was she from Emily’s department or something?

If so, why did she quit the workshop, and why did she come back?

I wasn’t sure. Could I even ask?

At that moment—

“You seem to be doing well…”

There was a strange hostility.

“That’s good to hear.”

And a lie.

Was it because of all the things that had happened recently?

Even though her face showed no emotion, I could sense the hostility directed at me.

What was going on?

I didn’t think I’d done anything in the past year that could’ve caused a grudge.

Maybe this year, sure….but I never imagined a connection from last year would come back like this. It caught me off guard.

“Anyway, if they’re not here, that’s fine. Take care. Keep up the research.”

I turned to leave.

I didn’t know why she disliked me, but among the survivors of the Cradle, there wasn’t a single person in their right mind.

Everyone was bound to be crazy in some way or another, so it was best not to get involved.

I’d just try to avoid her for a while and focus on finding Professor Georg or Senior Jabir.

Thankfully, I’d already completed the long-awaited treatment for Transcendence Syndrome, so there was no need to stay obsessed with the workshop.

Better to avoid trouble than to get tangled up with someone who clearly disliked me.

Hmm, this might actually be a good excuse to walk away from the workshop altogether.

“Right, see you around, Johan.”

Seeing that she even went out of her way to raise some weird flag like that, I really should steer clear.

***

With nothing to show for my visit to the alchemy workshop, I headed straight to my dorm room.

The interior was the same, but since it was a newly built building, it had a fresh feel to it.

“It’s a bit early to sleep…”

What should I do? Maybe study?

“Oh, right. I should unpack first.”

I had tossed my luggage into the corner the moment I got back and completely forgot about it.

I didn’t have a lot of stuff, but rather than digging through my bag later, it’d be better to sort things out now.

“Hmm?”

As I unpacked and organized my things, I noticed the edge of a silver mirror glinting.

I owned two silver mirrors.

One was for contacting my father, and the other was linked to Andvaranaut.

The first had been an expensive purchase my family made so they could stay in touch while I was away.

And the second was just something Cattleya gave me because she had money to burn.

In other words, both were expensive.

Anyway, the one that was currently glinting around the edges was the one Cattleya had given me.

The jewels embedded around the edge of the silver mirror served various purposes—

One of which was to show missed calls.

Not recordings of the calls, but just an indication that someone had tried to contact me.

Judging by the way five or six jewels were blinking at the same time,

It seemed like someone had tried to reach me several times in a short span.

Something must have happened.

“Alright, I’ll just leave this for now.”

I’ll probably just end up getting dragged into something tiring, so I’ll wait until things calm down before getting in touch.

“The rest of the stuff…”

I sorted my clothes, books, and other items, filling the empty spaces appropriately.

Some of the books were for research and borrowed from the library, so I’d need to return those later.

And then…

“Quit pretending to be a normal book. You’re taking up space, so disappear already.”

I tossed the Book of Lemegeton aside.

This thing only needs to show up when I need it, but it insists on staying in book form.

Is it bored or something?

Just as I was finishing up organizing everything,

The silver mirror lit up again.

“……”

It was Cattleya again.

Did something serious actually happen? Was there some kind of attack?

No, if it were something like that, she wouldn’t have the leisure for this, right?

Hmm…

“Hello?”

“Johan Damus?”

“Yes, speaking. Is something wrong? I found missed calls while sorting my stuff.”

“You didn’t ignore them on purpose?”

“I was busy.”

Sharp as ever.

Still, without proof, she can’t really accuse me of anything.

“Then hurry up and come to the merchant guild.”

“And why should I?”

“Just shut up and come!”

“If you plan to threaten me, bring enough power to back it up.”

Why does she think she can push me around with just words when she’s weaker than I am?

“I have plenty of ways to threaten you, but I’ll hold off for now since this is urgent. So how about helping me out? I’ll make sure you’re properly compensated.”

“Now that’s the right attitude for a proper deal. I’ll listen first and decide after.”

“…Thorough, aren’t you?”

Isn’t that just common sense? I could show up to help only to find imperial officials crawling all over the place.

I’m not about to get caught up in something and go down with them. I’ll only deal with problems I can actually handle.

“Emily’s at the merchant guild.”

“Hmm.”

“But she’s just sitting there not saying a word. I’m about to lose it, so get over here and do something!”

“A touching family reunion.”

It’s always like that at first.

Awkward and uncomfortable. I mean, things are still awkward between me and Yuna, aren’t they?

“Just shut up and get over here already.”

So impatient. Doesn’t even seem that urgent.

***

Anyway, I made my way to Andvaranaut.

Doesn’t really seem like there’s anything I can help with, but if I think of it as getting paid for nothing, it’s not a bad deal.

I was bored anyway.

It’s also worth thinking about why Emily came all the way to Andvaranaut in the first place.

“Oh, Emily. Fancy running into you here. Looking for something?”

“Johan.”

“Mhmm.”

“Hello.”

“…Mhmm.”

She still had that blank expression, and it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.

It seemed like she had at least entered the shop and was browsing through various things, but she didn’t appear to be planning on buying anything in particular.

For once, Cattleya wasn’t slouched at the counter. Instead, she maintained a polite customer service smile in complete silence.

“Are you alright?”

“Hmm?”

“I lost connection with the device I attached to you, so I don’t really know what happened.”

“Ah…”

Now that she mentioned it, didn’t I ask Deus for help when I was dealing with Loki?

Since he hacked into the device Emily had attached to me in order to get the coordinates, it made sense that she didn’t know what had happened.

Actually, it would’ve been weirder if she did know what happened in the first place…

“…Nothing much happened. But what about you. Why’d you come all the way here? If you’re looking for something, I can help. I’m a regular here, after all.”

“Is that so?”

“Mhmm.”

Emily tilted her head slightly, but then muttered as if it was nothing.

“It’s alright. I just came to see my family.”

“…Ah.”

So it was something.