Kirke thought she was a genius.
At just in her mid-thirties, when most mages only reach Rank 6 in their fifties, it was objectively true she was a genius.
At the same time, she was the youngest professor at the prestigious Grandis Akademi, having successfully conducted several important research projects, and was steadily working towards her life’s goal.
Clearly, that was the case.
So how did things end up like this?
‘Ugh… my head….’
If she had to pick the worst moment in her not-so-long life, without a doubt it would be her childhood. But the second worst was definitely right now. It was all because she met that devil of a kid.
Living on nothing but bean sprouts and potatoes every day, having to make do with boiled potatoes and water for lunch, let alone the luxury of dining out; she couldn’t even afford her dormitory fees.
Of course, the salary at Grandis Akademi was over five times that of other academies. Even if it was slashed by 98%, if she saved enough, she could still get by. She even had some savings.
But Kirke wasn’t alone.
To put it precisely, there were just too many holes for her money to flow out of.
‘I have to keep donating to the Kingdom… and spending money to obtain test subjects… and I need to buy more pieces for my life magic research….’
Her ultimate goal was to gain a high-ranking position in the Kingdom and move there.
She chose Grandis Akademi as her stepping stone because of the ‘custom’ given to professors in the field of magic, the high salary, and the honor of being at the kingdom’s top institution.
While she pretended to be the honest and kind genius professor on the outside, she was secretly producing several pieces for life magic.
Since she had to stay in the academy for several more years, she was slowly progressing with her plans.
Then, when the Holy Kingdom openly coveted her healing potion enhancement research, she handed it over to them using the ‘custom’…
‘Mistake… a huge mistake.’
And it happened precisely because of that that she met the devil. To be honest, her luck was terrible.
Wasn’t this a ‘custom’ that had been overlooked for decades? And now, the finance director who just took office a year ago wanted to overturn it? I’ve been a professor here since you enrolled in the academy! Get your head out of the clouds!
…But that finance director was the one who knew reality the best. After all, that monster known as the headmistress was backing him.
Kirke became the scapegoat for abolishing the custom. A plan she’d built for years could easily go down the drain with a single word from that devil.
With her true feelings hidden, Kirke had no choice but to cooperate with the devil. Consequently, she made enemies of all the professors in the field of magic.
And then, her salary was slashed by 98%.
‘I’m short on funds.’
To regain her fallen reputation, she intended to get her pieces to cause a ruckus during the summoning ceremony, but she was discovered due to a lack of money.
She didn’t have enough funds to buy the artifact to hide the magic power of the summoning magic… nor to buy the magic stone to draw the magic circle.
Even worse, that devil came to see her again, discussing plans to garner hatred not just from professors but from the students as well.
‘That son of a…’
Kirke swore vengeance, but despite that, she succumbed to his offer of a slight salary raise. The truth is, she really needed the money.
Even for the sake of planning the most perfect revenge, she had to pretend to obediently follow the devil’s orders for a while. Therefore, she was going to obediently go along with his plan to distribute hair loss-inducing agents.
‘What was it again?’
While preparing and researching the hair loss agent in her underground lab, strange memories began flooding back to her like a tidal wave.
It felt like there was something really important that she needed to remember. If only she could recall it, maybe the situation would change drastically.
No matter how much she tried to think, she couldn’t remember what that memory was.
No, it even caused her to stop the delicate analysis process halfway through… um.
And then what happened?
How could she───
“Ah, Professor Kirke. Have you awakened?”
“Uh….”
“You truly are something else. If it were me, I wouldn’t be able to say it so comfortably. Thanks to you, our plan has completely fallen apart.”
“…Huh?”
“So, Professor.”
“………….”
“Of course, that means you’ll have to pay the appropriate price, right? Cancel the salary increase, and I’ll additionally slash your salary by 99%.”
“………Gah.”
Ah.
Maybe she should just faint again…
*
Oh no, Kirke collapsed again. Hadn’t used her head that much… had she? She hadn’t really gotten to use it yet?
She had tried to wake her, but seeing the hair falling out made her feel pity, so she stopped.
‘I’ll deal with the compensation for the hair loss-inducing agents and the building repair costs later.’
If there was still money left, she could extract it all, and if there wasn’t, she could just make Kirke work as a research slave.
After all, to save her own hair, it would be for the best to focus on developing hair loss treatment, so it worked out for both sides, right?
Leaving the unconscious Kirke in a corner, she walked over to the headmistress.
“Headmistress, how about the confidentiality measures?”
“All professors in the field of magic, including Dean Villend, have agreed to keep silent. To be honest, since it was such an embarrassing sight in front of Student Chloe, if they have any sense of morality, they’ll remain quiet.”
“That’s not enough.”
“Huh?”
“If they had any sense of morality, they wouldn’t have let just Chloe and me inside. Please tell them that anyone who spills the beans will face a 50% salary cut.”
“Weren’t the professors in the magic field already hit with salary cuts after the last custom was overturned?”
“That’ll be on top of that.”
“Ah, I see.”
At least she could trust Dean Villend, but she couldn’t trust other magic professors. It was safer to impose a safety measure known as salary cuts.
But the real problem wasn’t that.
“Then… Finance Director.”
“Yes, Headmistress.”
“What about the festival…?”
“………Sigh.”
Yes, the real issue was the festival itself.
The plan that was supposed to be outright canceled was altered to allow for just one day of it, thanks to the headmistress’ persuasion, with the justification to prepare the distribution of hair loss-inducing agents.
But now everything had fallen through because of Kirke’s blunder.
“There’s still hair loss-inducing agents left, right?”
“About three-quarters have evaporated and been purified. And after one leakage incident….”
“If another similar incident occurs, it’s going to look suspicious.”
Although the confusion among the students and suspending the festival served to keep the professors quiet, it would look odd if another mishap occurred with the same hair loss-inducing agents.
To begin with, Kirke’s lab was a wreck, and Kirke, who needed to cause the incident, was out cold and in no state.
They had to accept that.
While watching the headmistress, who was desperately trying to keep a straight face despite her rising smirk, I reluctantly gave in.
“Let’s go ahead with the festival.”
“A-all week long?”
“All week long.”
“Yay!”
There was no time left for creating a new plan, so whatever.
Still, until this year’s festival, the artifact refund from the king, the compensation from His Holiness, and the reduced salary would be enough to cover everything.
Seeing the headmistress jumping for joy like a child, I couldn’t help but think why she was acting so ridiculous.
Anyway, she looked to be about the same age as me, so it shouldn’t be a big deal, right? Strictly speaking, wasn’t she just acting her age?
…Trying to think of useless things to escape reality turned out to be futile.
“Well, I don’t have to cover all the areas on the first day! We can take our time to see everything over the week!”
“Huh?”
“Remember, we made a pact yesterday to enjoy the festival together? Originally, only had time for one day, that too just in the evening, so I was thinking of drawing up a super-short route!”
With a flourish, the headmistress unfolded the overall map of Grandis Akademi that she’d brought from somewhere. The ‘route’ she mentioned was clearly laid out.
In the three sections of magic, martial arts, and administration, routes were mapped out leading to booths and events where stalls were mainly concentrated.
Calculating potential obstacles, crowd density, and dedicated fun times within each festival area—she had even accounted for everything in a rather intimidating manner.
With her eyes glimmering, the headmistress grinned and added more routes.
“There’s plenty of time for a week! I’ve hardly ever attended the festival myself, but I’ve watched it from my office! What I recommend is…!!”
“Uh, Headmistress.”
“Without a doubt, the student council building where the student council office is! The martial arts tournament, though it lacks sophistication, is quite the spectacle!”
“Headmistress.”
“And of course, the highlight, the fireworks event on the last day of the festival—”
“Headmistress, I apologize for interrupting your excitement, but…”
“Oh, we also need to consider the Finance Director’s input! Where do you want to go first?”
“I can’t go.”
“………Huh?”
“It seems I won’t be able to go with you, Headmistress.”
Clattering.
The headmistress dropped her pen, her expression suddenly blank. Her eyes were trembling with intensity.
Immediately, she clenched her fists and bit her lip.
“…Who is it?”
“Yes?”
“Who will you be going with…?”
As she looked up at me, oh.
Her eyes were undeniably fierce. If she thought I’d broken a promise, it was understandable… but my body was trembling in fear without me realizing it.
Is this what Rank 8’s killing intent feels like? Honestly, I didn’t care much about that.
It seemed the headmistress hadn’t fully grasped the situation yet.
“I’m not going with anyone. Besides, you can’t go to the festival either, Headmistress.”
“Uh, what? What do you mean?”
“According to our initial plan, the festival was supposed to stop on the second day.”
“Right?”
“So I didn’t really pay much attention to the schedule or paperwork after the third day.”
“………Ah.”
“I need to review everything and get re-approval for that now.”
Given that the festival was planned to be halted midway, I hadn’t paid much attention to the post-third-day schedules and paperwork; now, that wasn’t the case.
Even though it was a bit late, we had to scrutinize things and cancel anything that seemed absurd.
And right now, the festival was just one day away.
Though the second day was manageable, it was now down to just three days until the morning of the third day.
“What are you staring at?”
“Um.”
“Let’s get to work. We won’t have a moment of rest for the next three days.”
What do you mean three days? It would be lucky to even find time to sleep until the festival ended.
As the headmistress did yesterday, secretly taking respite from other departments would be possible. Even so, the workload was honestly murderous. The scale of the festival was immense.
It was ironic that, despite the plans failing, if the festival continued normally, there wouldn’t even be time to enjoy it.
With the headmistress’ jaw dropped in shock, I bent down to rummage through the mountain of paperwork for festival-related reports.
‘Now that I’ve talked to Cassandra, I ought to meet the main character too.’
It seemed I wouldn’t see him at all until the festival ended.
Great festivals are only dead festivals, after all.
More overtime to come…
*
“Over here! The flame magic enthusiasts club is putting on a show with fire magic! We won’t be responsible for any injuries from explosions!”
“Festival special discount! Chicken skewers for the price of a fairy tale chapter!”
“Let’s head over there!”
“Martial Arts Tournament betting! Who will win, Lisha Claudia or Kaern Deste!”
“Wait? Isn’t the winner already going to be that Rank 6 dude?”
“I heard he isn’t showing up this time? He hasn’t signed up yet.”
“Really?”
It was buzzing and lively.
Countless students, guests, and merchants raised their voices. The streets of Grandis Akademi, boasting the size of a small town, were packed with people.
Stalls, specially set-up booths, magic performance stages, martial arts tournament arenas, even showcasing inventions and papers that were handmade.
The Grandis Akademi festival was a place of enjoyment, encounter, exchange, and learning.
Amidst the boisterous festival, Ruth Spero sat on a bench, staring blankly.
“………….”
The festival. Previously, he had been so focused on training that he hadn’t had a proper chance to enjoy it.
Still, if he recalled correctly, he had enjoyed it at least once: during his third year, knowing he’d graduate the following year while hanging out with Adam.
Though it was brief, it was an unforgettable memory, and at the same time,
Now it was just a source of pain when he thought back on those days.
‘…I knew.’
However, what tormented Ruth now wasn’t the memory of that day. Ultimately, it was related to Adam, but more specifically, the words he had said.
The news that they had identified the professors’ summoning ceremony in advance and had apprehended them.
The words Ruth had heard a month ago were vastly different from what he knew of ‘the past.’
‘The academy surely had no knowledge of the summoning ceremony, and the headmistress had personally apologized for it.’
What in the world had changed this time that the future had shifted? Ruth couldn’t make sense of it at all.
And at the same time, a feeling of hopelessness crept in.
‘In the end, among all I did… not a single thing turned out right.’
He had suspected Chloe was connected to Kirke. It was a misunderstanding. Chloe was merely acting on Adam’s request.
He attempted to stop the summoning ceremony beforehand. It had been meaningless, as the academy had handled the situation themselves.
Someone might say he had only been in the academy for just two months. That there was still so much time left.
Yet Ruth wanted to ask, in reverse.
If just after two months the future he knew shifted this dramatically, what would happen if more time passed?
No, more importantly.
Was Ruth’s very movement a source of harm instead?
‘If I hadn’t heard the truth from Adam, I would have still been suspicious of Chloe.’
He would have continued to torment her relentlessly, threatening her life. And perhaps, under the pretext of stopping the future Chloe, he might have killed her.
…Can he honestly say he had no selfish desires behind that thought? Was there no resentment or jealousy in watching Chloe standing next to the corrupted Adam?
For the past month, he’d pondered. He’d attended the minimum of lectures, brushed off Mina’s worried comments, and spent all his remaining time holed up in the dorm.
Endlessly feeling self-loathing, guilt, and despair over himself. The more he allowed himself to feel those emotions, the deeper they sunk.
‘He said he would get back in touch about the student council matters.’
As if adding fuel to those negative feelings, he hadn’t even heard a word from Adam.
Was Adam disappointed for some reason and had now discarded him?
He was terrified by the unpredictable circumstances. Even though he had encountered the miracle of reincarnation, he found himself despising his own powerlessness.
Rather, let it be.
‘Wouldn’t it be better if I didn’t exist at all?’
Unlike before, he held power. He had money. But what did all this mean?
Only dark emotions reflected in Ruth’s eyes as he sat on the bench.
What if he just killed Kirke and dropped out of the academy? He could travel the continent and eliminate all the future villains.
Of course, since these were still people who had ‘yet’ to do anything wrong, Ruth would be labeled as a horrific serial killer. But he didn’t care.
After all, even while at the academy, he was nothing but incompetent and pathetic.
In any case…
“Ruth? Is that really you?”
“……Your Highness the Princess?”
At the sound of a sudden voice, Ruth lifted his head. Beatrice had approached without him noticing and was now staring at him.
He wanted to ask her to leave him alone, but instead,
“Your Highness, what’s with that outfit…?”
“It’s a part-time job outfit! I’m just handing out flyers, but the pay isn’t bad, you know?”
Beatrice was wearing cheap reception attire. It was already somewhat famous around the academy that she took various part-time jobs.
A foreign princess who didn’t shy away from hard work. It became public knowledge when she did various chores, including cleaning toilets during midterms, and she garnered favorable opinions.
While some clicked their tongues about her not acting like royalty, many admired the fact that the 5th Rank mage and princess was taking on part-time jobs after overcoming her chronic condition.
‘…Right.’
This change in Beatrice was also something Ruth was unaware of. It probably had something to do with Adam, but that was just a guess—he really had no idea what had happened.
Letting out a hollow laugh full of self-derision,
In this chance encounter, Ruth, who had hardened his heart for not-so-great reasons, was about to rise from the bench.
“By the way, Ruth, did you hear? The student council president has opened a fortune-telling booth!”
“……?”
“He’s known for being a quack fortune teller, but he’s still a 6th Rank mage, right? There’s been a huge crowd of people wanting to get their fortunes read, but he supposedly turned down the first guest, saying it was already determined.”
So what was she trying to say?
Although Ruth felt bad for making Beatrice spark up the conversation, he wasn’t in the mood for chitchat.
With that thought in mind, Ruth narrowed his eyes slightly at Beatrice, but she merely smiled.
“By the way, the guest he sought to turn down was said to be a ‘student of the same rank as him!’”
“……!!”
“There’s only one student like that in the entire academy, right? I actually have a reason to see the student council president. Would you mind bringing me along, thinking of our bond from the deserted island?”
“…………….”
“Right? Please?”
A fortune-telling, huh.
‘Maybe it’s worth a shot.’
After contemplating for a moment, Ruth finally nodded, and a brightly smiling Beatrice reached out her hand to him.
Let’s go see a fortune teller, bid farewell to Adam. And after killing Kirke, let’s leave.
Today would be the last day at the academy.
Ruth had no doubts about that.
“Welcome, reincarnated one!”
“……Huh?”
Surely. That was how it should be.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
