“Why does this happen at the end of the semester…?”
“Right? It’s ridiculous…”
The conference room was filled with sighs.
I thought the final exams would go peacefully, but students, including the daughter of the Neraide family, mysteriously vanished amidst the dimensional rift. There were protests from both the Neraide family and the parents of other students at the royal palace, causing growing distrust towards the academy’s upper management, slowly undermining the principal’s position.
“If this goes on, I feel like I’ll be fired not even a year after moving here.”
“Don’t say such ominous things. Korn.”
“This will become reality if it continues, don’t you think?”
Clears throat, clears throat…
“How did we get this far…”
“If we’re not careful, there’s even a chance of impeachment from the guild leader.”
Korn, the leader of the blacksmithing guild, was right, and even the directors who disagreed with him merely coughed and looked away.
After all, there had already been three major incidents just this semester.
The Hell Hound incident.
23 injured. 4 dead. Among the dead was the promising talent, Elena Marshall. With protests from the Marshall family, her brother, William Marshall, had his enrollment put on hold.
The serial kidnapping case involving the 3rd Platoon Captain of the security force. It was an attempt to kidnap students for human trafficking, driven by the collaboration of the 3rd Platoon Captain and a gang.
With the assistance of Johann Quartz, a knight guarding Yeomyeong-gwan, the 3rd Platoon Captain was captured.
While the security force ambushed and subjugated the leech gang, rescuing the students, some members of the gang managed to escape. The security force suspects there may have been collaborators besides the 3rd Platoon Captain and the leech gang, and an investigation is underway.
And then… the dimensional rift incident during the final exams.
1 dead. 1 severely injured.
The deceased was Brown Hashi. The cause of death was dismemberment.
According to the surviving Perinne, she was captured by unidentified human-shaped monsters and was about to be burned alive, but survived thanks to the help of Johann Quartz and his party.
She claimed that Johann Quartz played an excellent role in clearing the rift and hinted at her family’s intention to reward him.
This was corroborated by the testimonies of the surviving Lewis Cannon and Shuri Retriver. Moreover, with Viola currently undergoing intensive treatment, it’s highly likely that without Johann Quartz’s assistance, they wouldn’t have returned.
Special note: The party remained silent about the reward for clearing the rift during the hearing.
Currently, it is presumed that the reward is with Johann Quartz, and the academy is willing to negotiate and cooperate with him to confirm the reward for the rift.
“…Hmm.”
‘There are so many things to do.’
With the vacation coming soon, it was clear that he wouldn’t be able to dream of a break at this rate. Merlin pressed his hand against his aching forehead, mentally organizing the tasks he needed to address.
The aftermath of the dimensional rift incident during the final exams.
Public reward for Johann Quartz’s heroic actions.
Negotiation at the table with the Marshall family and Kalon Church, who are currently expressing their regrets.
‘Should I retire?’
At the ripe old age of 90, he was well past the typical retirement age for humans. However, as a grand mage, he could still live for about another 30 years. He felt his lifelong resolve to cultivate talent wavering.
But if he stepped down, who would take his place as principal?
In a situation where problems were piling up, anyone who became the principal would only be a poisoned chalice, nothing more, nothing less.
‘What a hardship it is at this age…’
But still, he had to get things done.
Merlin snapped out of his thoughts and snapped his fingers. The small wave initiated by the grand mage’s fingers sent a thrilling jolt through the directors. As the directors, who had become more connected, stared at him in unison, seemingly in wonder, he cleared his throat and spoke.
“I will take responsibility for this matter. You all should focus on your respective duties. And Gilbert.”
“Yes, Principal.”
“Bring Johann here. I have something to discuss with him…”
“Understood.”
Gilbert, who had been observing quietly in the corner of the conference room, maintained his expression as he left. Watching his retreating figure, Merlin stroked his beard, contemplating.
‘I need to think about what bait to dangle…’
———————-
“Johann! Look at this! It’s crawling all over! It’s so cute!”
“Where do you see anything cute about that?”
A tentacled book was crawling around in search of freedom—how could that possibly be cute? Is the perspective of a Dullahan really that different from an ordinary person’s? No matter how I looked at it, there was nothing cute about it.
I walked past Millia, who was kyaaaing while watching the tentacled book crawl and picked it up with the tongs I had made two days ago. No matter how much I tried, I didn’t want to handle a tentacled book while sober.
The tentacled book gripped the tongs as if to escape, pushing against them. But since I had done this dance before, I held the tongs firmly and flipped the tentacled book over as if flipping a burger. Surprisingly, the book seemed to feel dizzy, though I had no idea how that worked.
Is this really a… book?
“Don’t bother Chukchuk too much! It’s a good child!”
“A good child? …Chukchuk?”
Is this tentacled creature, which was roaming around the dungeon made of stitched-together rags, a good child? Was it brainwashed? I looked at Millia seriously.
That book had previously brainwashed its user who tried to escape.
Strangely, it hadn’t worked on me at all. Was it because I was possessed? Anyway, that wasn’t what mattered right now.
I tossed the book onto the desk and slipped my hand under Millia’s armpit, lifting her up.
Hmm, everything looks fine on the surface.
“What are you doing! Put me down!”
I questioned Millia, who was futilely trying to kick me in the chest.
“Millia. Tell me. What do you like the most?”
“Um~ Johann?”
“And what do you dislike?”
“Carrots.”
Aha.
“Do you remember the name of the toy I made for you?”
“Kickboard!”
…Looks like she’s not brainwashed after all. I set Millia down and picked up the tentacled book, that I had been eyeing.
No matter how I touched it, it felt like picking up a live octopus. If I just placed it on the desk, it would escape again, so I needed to tie it somewhere. I took out a metal chain I had made for practice in my workshop and wrapped it around the book. There was no way it could escape now.
The tentacles seemed to possess only the strength of a child.
“Hmph…”
“That’s a dangerous object. It’s not a toy.”
“It even ate carrots for me…”
Was that its goal?
“Give up before you tell Ashley to pile up the carrots.”
“Ah, okay! I’ll give up!”
Though her gaze still lingered on it with reluctance, having said that much, I was sure she wouldn’t tamper with it anymore. I shoved the book into a corner and picked up the unfinished work again. I intended to focus on creating a new tool until it was time to eat.
After experiencing the rift incident, I realized that just a shovel wouldn’t be enough to cope with everything.
At the very least, I needed a method to supplement my firepower or a useful tool or two to survive smoothly in this messed-up world. In the end, it boils down to investing in myself. It’s nice to cultivate the talented people around me, but ultimately, if I’m weak, it has no meaning.
“Johann, what are you making?”
“This?”
I wore a glove with a device on the back of my hand and aimed it at the dummy in the corner of the workshop. As I pressed the switch located a bit below my wrist, a small bolt shot out with a faint sound, cutting through the air. The bolt flew straight and lodged itself into the neck of the dummy.
Failure, I suppose.
“Wow…”
Since it was still a prototype, the accuracy wasn’t very high.
I thought I needed finer adjustments. Maybe I should change the position to avoid shaking when I press the button or, at worst, come up with a whole new design.
But if it succeeds, it would be pretty useful.
Linking my abilities with something discreet rather than flashy would be much more beneficial.
“You’re making something cool again.”
“It’s important to improve oneself.”
“Well, if you say so. But it’s a little weird that you’re making assassination tools. Anyone would mistake you for an assassin instead of a knight.”
Not wrong, though.
But it couldn’t be helped.
I didn’t have the strength to just lift a carriage like you. I turned my gaze to Renny, who was leaning against the door, looking tired and yawning at me.
“What’s the matter here?”
“You have a visitor. Hurry to the reception room.”
“A visitor?”
Someone wants to see me?
I didn’t think my social circle was that wide.
Seeing my reaction, Renny seemed to find it amusing as she chuckled and shrugged her shoulders.
“The security captain came looking for you. It seems he’s here about the rift incident… Put on your upper clothes. You don’t want to be mistaken for a pervert.”
The security captain, huh.
It seemed that three days after I returned from the rift, the serious process of handling the aftermath was finally beginning.
“Millia.”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t touch the book.”
“Okay!”
She sure responds well. I ruffled Millia’s hair roughly, then left the workshop.
Time to see if I can squeeze some money out of them.
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