Thud.
A young girl’s body slowly crumbled and collapsed onto the flower field.
With one eye closed and her breathing calm and steady, she looked as peaceful as the sleeping princess in a fairy tale.
Yujin stood there for a moment and looked down at her, before straightening his posture.
[In the end, you didn’t take any drastic measures, huh?]
Watching this scene, Tiamat spoke from beside him. Yujin shrugged his shoulders.
“I didn’t leave her entirely alone. I did seal the demonic power, after all.”
[Even so, this girl is already transforming into a demon. To be precise… you missed the window to remove the demon seed. Whether it’s her body or her soul, she’s already straying far from being human.]
“That’s why I stopped at sealing the demonic power. If I had tried to extract the demon seed entirely, she would’ve died on the spot.”
From what Yujin could confirm, the corruption had already passed its critical point. It had been a long time since the demon seed and the girl had become one.
At this stage, there was no way to separate her from the demon. Tiamat agreed as well.
[By now, there’s no distinction between this girl and a demon. What’s tormenting her isn’t some separate entity called the demon seed. Rather, it’s likely another self born from her own inner weakness or malice that is constantly consuming her mind and soul.]
“Hmm… Is it too late, then?”
[Sealing the demonic power has probably bought her some time. But in the end, it’s only a matter of time… And since the demonic power has been sealed, she’s more likely to grow weaker as time passes. After all, demonic power is the very essence of a demon’s existence.]
“What an unfortunate situation.”
Yujin muttered quietly as he stroked his chin.
If one were to make a comparison, the girl before him was like a terminal cancer patient.
If she had undergone surgery or other measures in the early stages, she might have been saved. But now, the cancer cells had grown far too widespread.
There was no other method available. Not unless time itself could be reversed.
But…
[I’ve told you before, haven’t I? The time of a transcendent being has an absolute quality to it. And absolute time is not something even a Transcendent can easily meddle with. If they could, everyone would’ve done their utmost to tamper with time during the Great War to secure their own victory.]
Interfering with the time of a transcendent being was no simple task, even with the dragon’s po<er, which came close to omnipotence. While it might not be entirely impossible…
[Of course, Yujin, since you inherited my magical power, you might be able to interfere with the half-formed time of a fledgling transcendent being without too much trouble. But rewinding time in such a convenient way to make a transcendent being not a transcendent being won’t be so easy].
Tiamat added that the time of the girl, who was already halfway a demon, would not simply rewind to a state where she wasn’t a demon. The birth of a transcendent being wasn’t something that could be suppressed so easily.
“Does that mean there’s absolutely no way?”
Even for a patient at the terminal stage of cancer, there was at least one final option called chemotherapy.
Of course, chemotherapy was that last resort people tried in desperation. Because there were no other methods, because they wanted to prolong life just a bit more, or because they couldn’t simply leave the patient to their fate. The process was extremely painful, but it wasn’t entirely without possibility.
Yujin asked if there was a similar method for this girl.
[There is no way to revert her body from demon to human. But the fortunate part is that this child has at least managed to maintain her sense of self.]
“You mean…”
[Another self must have been born in her. Nourished by the demon seed feeding on her inner weakness and malice… it is essentially a newborn self as a demon. In order for this child to retain any semblance of a self, she would have to accept it, overcome it, or find a way to coexist with it.]
“Hmm.”
In other words, there existed the option of merging with her demon self, conquering it, or coexisting with it.
“Merging seems like it would be the easiest. For the other two, at the very least, her mental strength would need to equal that of her demon self. From the look of things, she seems too weak right now.”
[That’s true, but merging is actually a bit different from truly preserving her identity. There is a risk that her ego would become different in the process.]
“Hmm…”
[Of course there’s a way you can help, but… I don’t think it’s the right time to bring it up.]
Right as Tiamat said that—
Crackle!
She heard the sound of something rushing urgently through the garden foliage. Yujin too had already been looking in that direction.
“The demonic power trailed this way!”
“Damn it… Your Highness!”
Soon after, two women burst through the garden.
***
A short while earlier. At the student dormitories.
“He’s not here, Headmistress.”
“Tch… Did we get played?”
The Aacademy’s Headmistress Ines and Professor Reina had been alarmed by Yujin’s half-joking, half-serious remark and had hurried to the student dormitories.
But Yujin wasn’t there. At best, they only caught a few male and female students sneaking into each other’s dorms for secret meetings Yujin himself hadn’t gone to the dormitories in the first place.
Only after realizing that did they understand they had been led astray. Though in truth, Yujin hadn’t intended to mislead them at all.
Yet they had no choice. His words a moment ago had been just too suggestive. Like a warning that if they didn’t hurry, the students could be in danger. They felt compelled to act.
But upon arriving, they found no sign of Yujin and only saw some students in the middle of a secret rendezvous. It was enough to make the Headmistress’s face turn beet red.
How dare they, still wet behind the ears! I haven’t even experienced romance once in my life!
After watching the students’ passionate rendezvous, the Headmistress felt her blood boiling. How upside-down has the world become? She had never even held a man’s hand!
“But, Headmistress, take a look at this.”
Just as the Headmistress was having those thoughts, Reina handed something to her.
“…What is this?”
“I believe it belongs to one of the students.”
It was a snow-white cardigan. The Headmistress’s expression grew serious when she saw it.
Could it be that the student he targeted was already abducted?
And if a student was indeed abducted… Could it really be—?
“Professor Reina, where did you find this?”
“Come with me.”
Noticing the Headmistress’s grave expression, Reina quickly led her onward.
They arrived at a particular student dorm.
And there, the Headmistress sensed something and realized her concerns had become reality. Her face hardened.
“This is… this is the princess’s demonic power, isn’t it!”
“Huh?”
She had sensed traces of the princess’s demonic power.
It was faint enough that Reina wouldn’t have noticed, which was understandable.
Magical Power, Divine Power, Aura, and Demonic Power which were known as the Four Great Powers existed everywhere in the world. Because the princess’s remnants were so extremely faint, Reina had difficulty distinguishing them from the ambient demonic power in the air.
Even for the Headmistress, with her innate dragon blood and heightened sensitivity, it was barely perceptible.
“Damn it… don’t tell me it was the princess!”
The Headmistress immediately took off, following the demonic power traces that had scattered. Reina followed right behind her.
In the blink of an eye, they passed the student dormitories and rushed to the academy’s garden.
“The demonic power trailed this way!”
“Damn it… Your Highness!”
The two of them pushed through the garden and soon found something.
“”….…!””
In the middle of the garden, bathed in moonlight, stood a black-haired man with narrow eyes.
At the same time, a girl lay collapsed at his feet.
Anyone witnessing this might have assumed the girl was in danger, and the two of them were no exception.
They acted before they spoke. Reina rushed over to the princess and scooped her up, while the Headmistress stepped forward to confront the narrow-eyed man, Yujin.
“What do you think you’re doing? Just what—!”
“Shh.”
When the Headmistress raised her voice, Yujin pressed his index finger to his lips. That gesture made her pause.
“Keep it down… Please don’t shout like that, Headmistress. There’s a student sleeping behind you.”
“……!”
Unthinkingly, the Headmistress glanced over her shoulder. To her ears, Yujin’s words seemed to say this:
—There’s a student lying there defenseless… surely you’re not thinking of starting a fight, are you?
The Headmistress bit her lip tightly at his words, then turned to Reina and spoke.
“Professor Reina, take Princess Elicia to a safe place.”
“…Understood.”
Reina also knew that staying here any longer would only hinder the Headmistress. Without argument, she lifted Princess Elicia and began to withdraw.
“Ah, Professor Reina Sahart.”
“!”
At that moment, Yujin called out to Reina who was retreating. She froze for a moment and stiffened at his voice. Seeing this, Yujin smiled and said,
“When Her Highness wakes up, please pass on a message for me: if she ever needs help, I’ll be waiting for her to come find me.”
“……”
Hearing this, Reina couldn’t help but interpret his words as follows:
—We will welcome you, the one who harbors a demon, whenever you wish.
Feeling a chill run down her spine, Reina said nothing and quickly withdrew.
And so, only the Headmistress and Yujin were left standing in the now-empty space.
Yujin watched the spot where Reina and Elicia disappeared, then muttered to himself.
“So, the Princess… She’s a more distinguished figure than I thought. I didn’t realize it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean…? Are you trying to feign ignorance now?”
The scene from earlier came to the Headmistress’s mind. The princess collapsed in the garden late at night, and Yujin standing idly by and watching her.
No matter how one looked at it, it was suspicious. And for the Headmistress, who was already wary of Yujin, this only seemed more suspicious.
“Feign ignorance, you say…? To be honest, I don’t even fully understand the situation myself. But if you’re worried about a misunderstanding, let me make it clear: I simply happened to run into Her Highness by chance.”
“That’s… No.”
The Headmistress felt as though she was being drawn into something she couldn’t control. And in truth, there wasn’t any concrete evidence. Her suspicion stemmed purely from the fact that Princess Elicia, already a target of dark mages, had been found collapsed, with Yujin standing nearby. That alone was the entirety of her reasoning.
However, considering the current circumstances, questioning him seemed justified. There would be no harm in it.
The Headmistress decided to calm herself and start by interrogating him gradually.
“…Fine. In that case, I’ll ask you a few questions.”
“I’ll listen.”
“Why did you wait until after arriving at the academy to contact me? Didn’t I tell you to inform me as soon as you were done preparing?”
This was yet another aspect she found suspicious. She had left a crystal message instructing him to contact her once he was ready so she could send someone to fetch him. And yet, out of nowhere, he claimed to have arrived at the academy long ago. And without notifying her.
On top of that, he had managed to bypass the spatial coordinate distortions. Why was that?
“It’s not for any great reason. I just thought it would be rude to trouble you by having you send someone to pick me up, so I came on my own. Ah, but I do apologize for contacting you late. I got a little captivated by the academy’s scenery. I intended to reach out after looking around for a bit.”
His answer was exceedingly suspicious, precisely because it wasn’t for any great reason. Narrowing her eyes, she continued.
“…The area around the academy has distorted spatial coordinates. If it wasn’t through spatial travel, how did you manage to get here so quickly?”
“I did use spatial travel. I was simply able to see through the spatial distortions with little difficulty.”
“Such a…”
The Headmistress started to speak but closed her mouth. After all, it did make sense. He was the first mage to ever establish the foundations of space-time magic. For someone like him, something of this nature might indeed be a trivial matter.
However, such questions weren’t going to prove his innocence. The Headmistress pressed on.
“When you contacted me, you said something like ‘come quickly before I head to the student dormitory’. What exactly did you mean by that?”
“Oh, it was just a lighthearted joke. I’m not the dormitory supervisor or anything, so it’d be troublesome if I accidentally wandered toward the student dormitories by mistake.”
“……”
Was that all it was? The Headmistress’s suspicions only deepened. No matter how she thought about it, the statement had been far too significant to dismiss as a mere joke.
She asked another question.
“Then what was the reason for you being with Princess Elicia?”
“I just happened to run into Her Highness by chance.”
“By chance? By chance, you say? Clothes believed to belong to Princess Elicia were found on the ground near the student dormitories. How do you explain that? Does it make sense that she would drop her coat while walking by chance?”
The Headmistress raised a white cardigan as she spoke. Yujin raised an eyebrow and replied.
“Hmm… I see. I didn’t realize something like that had been left behind. Her Highness must be a rather careless person.”
“………”
Though he seemed unaware of the cardigan’s existence, his words carried a certain weight, as if he had overlooked something important. He continued speaking.
“I’m not entirely sure, but perhaps Her Highness dropped it without noticing?”
“Do you think that makes sense?”
“I have nothing more to say on the matter.”
“………”
As he shrugged his shoulders after saying those words, the Headmistress asked with a tense face,
“Well… this will be the last question.”
“Let’s hear it first.”
His response implied he was willing to listen, but for some reason, it sounded as if he had no intention of continuing with a proper exchange of questions and answers.
“Why was the princess unconscious?”
“…Ah, that.”
Yujin briefly averted his gaze as if feigning indifference, staring at the distant moon that had risen in the sky. Then, he finally spoke.
“Now that I think about it, it seemed as though Her Highness had been possessed by a demon.”
“…What? What are you suddenly talking about…”
“It’s fascinating, isn’t it? Why would someone as important as the princess be consumed by a demon while living at the academy, of all places?”
“…….!”
The Headmistress froze upon hearing those words.
The fact that Princess Elicia’s body had been possessed by a demon was a top-secret matter, one of utmost confidentiality. Even the followers of the Pantheon, who had begun calling for her death, had refrained from revealing this information out of fear it would plunge the public into chaos.
But what would happen if it became known that Princess Elicia was being consumed by a demon and, even worse, was living not in the imperial palace but at the academy?
The public would fall into disarray. The academy could come under attack for harboring and protecting a princess being overtaken by a demon.
In the midst of such turmoil, the academy itself might become engulfed in the flames of conflict. Internal unrest would surely arise, and it was entirely possible that students could suffer serious harm.
Of course, the Headmistress was not unaware of this situation. It was just that neither the Pantheon nor the Empire had anticipated that this secret, which they had been so desperately trying to conceal, would spread so easily.
Even if someone happened to reveal this truth, it was only natural to expect it would be quietly covered up before gaining attention.
But what about the man standing before her now?
The man currently standing in front of her had become a figure known throughout the country. There was hardly anyone who didn’t know his name. What if such a person suddenly announced that the princess of the Empire was being consumed by a demon?
Some would begin investigations, while the radical faction within the Pantheon that wished to see her dead might seize upon his statement and lend their strength to the call for her execution.
Even within the Pantheon, a cold war was ongoing between the radical faction which sought to kill the princess, and the moderate faction which considered the importance of maintaining relations with the Empire. If someone were to appear and light the fuse in this volatile situation, an explosion would surely follow.
Could it be that he had accounted for all of this when he published his thesis on space-time magic? At first glance, it seemed like a wildly exaggerated conclusion, but when she thought about it, it wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
“…Why did you bring up that subject?”
The Headmistress asked the question with great caution. In response, Yujin smiled faintly and replied,
“Well, I figured you might know better than I do, Headmistress.”
“Is that so?”
That response made it certain. The Headmistress now believed that her own thoughts and his had aligned.
If that was the case, then there was only one solution. She had to make sure that the man standing before her became someone incapable of speaking further.
Woooom!
“Ah… Have I perhaps stirred up an unnecessary matter?”
Watching the Headmistress summon her magic, Yujin gave a wry smile and said,
“Well, I suppose there’s no other choice then.”
He slowly opened his red eyes.
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